Nature's Judgment
by KibaElunal
Summary: After a new temple to Palutena has been constructed, Viridi finds herself wishing that the humans would make offerings to her as well. After some planning with Phosphora, the two come to the idea that they need a human to travel and spread the glory of nature. Finding one they both approve of is tough, but one that's willing? Well, that's completely optional. [M for lemons/humor]
1. Chapter 1

Nature's Judgment Ch. 1

 **AN: Hey everyone. Just a little idle story I can work on between works. I've always been a fan of Kid Icarus, and I really enjoyed Uprising. While they haven't said anything, I really hope that they put it on the Nintendo Switch. Anyway, here you guys go: a little adventure-style romcom. If you like, feel free to send me a PM or leave a review. There may be lemons much further on, but I've yet to decide one way or another. Hope you enjoy! Best of luck in life and literature -Kiba**

It had been a long day for the Goddess of Nature who now boredly stared into her apple cider. Following the recent events of Hades' assault on the human world and her lack of success with the Reset Bombs she'd been developing for thousands of years, she had begun to feel lately as if she'd been spinning her wheels.

"Well, that's another one down," Phosphora sighed, sipping her own drink. "Should I call in the next one?"

"Not yet," Viridi sighed.

"What is it about humans that just makes them so…" Phosphora struggled to find the right word. It was rolling around on the tip of her tongue, but 'annoying' just didn't seem to be severe enough.

"Infuriating?" her boss suggested.

"Yes, that's it."

Viridi considered it for a moment before counting the reasons off on her hand. "They're annoying, they're destructive, they're arrogant, they're stupid, and they just plain don't get it."

"Get what?"

"You know... _it_. Like...everything!" The goddess of nature by this point was so exhausted from the day thus far, she didn't even have the energy to try to make sense to her lazy general.

Phosphora scratched her head. "You know, that begs the follow-up question: why are we doing this again?"

"No reason," Viridi lied.

"You saw Palutena's new temple, didn't you?" Phosphora smirked.

"It's not fair! Why don't humans ever build monuments or temples to me, huh? Where do they think all their food comes from? They can't seriously believe that trees just sprout of the ground with no help at all, can they? I mean, that's ridiculous and don't even get me started on the animals! Who do they think makes rain and rainbows and the water cycle and...recycling?!" She'd tacked on the last bit in a frustrated attempt to come up with something else that she did that had played an important aspect in the lives of humans. "And what do they do? They destroy my trees, break my mountains, and sacrifice my animals and for what?! To build a temple to stupid Palutena." With a huff, Viridi fell back against her seat, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So you think convince a human to become an avatar for you will allow you to spread the word and get some more shrines to you, huh?"

"Ugh, no. Not an avatar. I don't want to go down to the stinking human world, are you kidding me?" she chided. "What I want is a cleric, or a disciple or a…"

"Paladin?"

"Ooh, I like the sound of a paladin."

"Why not just grab Magnus?"

"Please, he's only loyal to money and where are we going to get money? It doesn't grow on trees, you know?"

"So let me get this straight," the sassy high general commented. "You want a human to drop their entire life, be your servant, do your will in the human world, and you want them to do it all for free?"

"Not for free. Just for…" the goddess murmured the last part under her breath.

"What was that?" Phosphora teased. "I didn't quite catch that."

"Fruit. I want them to work for fruit," Viridi repeated with a huff. "I mean I get that if they give up their sad, miserable, pathetic lives for me they'll have to do _something_ to not just starve to death, so I'd give them fruit. Vegetables, too. I mean, I'm not a monster."

"Maybe we're going about it all wrong," the lightning being said. "You keep calling up farmers, but that seems to run us into a few problems. Firstly, they're uneducated. Secondly, they grow their own fruits…"

"...and vegetables!" Viridi chimed in.

"...and vegetables. Finally, they're dirty and frankly I don't like the way they smell. It's just sweat, dirt, and manure."

"Well, if you've got bright ideas, I'm open to them. Let's hear them, huh?" the youthful goddess huffed.

"What if instead of finding the producers, let's find the consumers?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let's find a human who doesn't grow his own fruits and vegetables, he just uses them. Your reward would be a lot more enticing for him that way."

Viridi hummed in thought. That actually wasn't too terrible of a plan. Everyone ate fruit and vegetables though, that was just a fact of the human race. They'd die if they didn't. She needed someone who didn't just eat, but made eating an art form. "I've got it!" she beamed, clapping her hands together. "I know what we need now!"

"To stop this stupid errand and go back to bed?"

"Hardly," Viridi cackled. "We're going to find ourselves a human who can cook!"

"A cook?" Phosphora asked skeptically.

"Correct!"

"Wouldn't it be better to...I don't know...find a human who can defend themselves?"

Viridi suddenly sank. "Right...if some human starts spouting off about worshipping me, the other humans are going to turn on him in an instant."

"That does make spreading your name considerable more difficult."

"So we don't want a cook, or they'd cook him…"

"Horrible joke."

"So we need someone who knows how to use fruits and vegetables, can defend themselves, and typically works for literal peanuts."

"Any other qualifications?" Phosphora scoffed.

"Ah, what the heck. Let's make sure they're cute. Can't go having some uggo ruining the dichotomy of our armies can we?"

Viridi's high general rolled her eyes. "Yeah, good luck with that. Honestly, finding a human like that is going to be the same odds as finding a needle in a hay…"

"Found one!"

Blue and green energy swirled upward from the platform in front of the two and after a few moments, the shape of a man popped into existence, much to his absolute shock. "What the hell?!" he gasped, placing a hand on his chest to still his rapidly pounding heart.

He was an interesting man: average height, but a fit, muscular frame. He was dressed head to toe in leather armor, decently-crafted but certainly homemade. In his hand, he wielded a bow, matched by the leather quiver strapped to his back. His face was youthful in appearance, probably not much older than eighteen, with short dark hair and the slight traces of a beard that had been shaved off a week prior.

"Dibs."

Viridi blinked in confusion before looking at her general. "Dibs?" she asked.

"Yeah. This is a romance story, right? I call dibs."

"You can't call dibs! He's a human being!"

"So? I still have dibs. It's inevitably going to come up in the future."

"Well if we're playing by those rules, I saw him first so you can just get in line!"

"You? You look like you're eight years old! How is he going to have a romance with a little kid?"

"I could look older if I wanted to!"

"Nu-uh! There's nothing in canon that says you can shape shift."

"That doesn't mean I can't!"

As the two girls began to squabble, the man slowly got to his feet, looking around himself in awe. Last he'd known, he'd been walking in the woods, on the trail of a bear that had been causing some trouble in the small town nearby. Just as he'd reached the thing's den, he'd heard a roar behind him, turned around, and wound up here. "Ummm, excuse me?" he called to the two women who were bickering with one another.

Immediately, they stopped, taking chairs and coming to sit just in front of him, clipboards in hand. Viridi clicked her pen before giving him a smile. "Okay, let's begin your interview. On a scale of 1 to 5, how much would you say you hate the human race? 1 being that you'd be fine if they simply ceased to exist and 5 being you wished they'd overpopulate the earth and kill all of nature?"

"I'm sorry?" he scoffed. "Umm...if i had to answer, I guess it'd be a 2 or 3?"

"Mmhm, between 2 and 3...so between, 'I'd be okay with half of a mass extinction' and 'Please don't kill me, I'm just a human'. Interesting, interesting."

"Yeah...who are you two again?" he asked.

"We'll be asking the questions if you don't mind," Phosphora replied. "Now, if you had to list the most boring sex position what would it be?"

"Ignore her," Viridi quickly chimed in. "She doesn't understand tact. Now on a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate your love for the goddess Palutena? 1 being, 'screw her, she stinks' and 5 being 'the things I'd do to her if I could'?"

"What?" he gasped. "What the heck are these questions for? Also, missionary and I'd give her a solid 2 after she blew up my house."

Phosphora giggled, covering her mouth as she leaned over to Viridi. "I got him to say 'missionary'."

Viridi rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but to smile herself. "Right then, okay only a few hundred more questions to go," she assured the man.

"A few hundred?" he asked incredulously. "I don't have time for...whatever this is. I'm very busy and I have far too much work to do."

"Look bud, you want this job or not?" Phosphora scoffed.

"What job?!" he demanded. "I don't even know who you are, why an eight year old is asking me weird questions, or where I am!"

"Oh, those are easy ones," Viridi replied. "I'm Viridi, beautiful and adorable Goddess of Nature, creator of the Reset Bomb, divine patent pending. This is Phosphora, my high general, also a spirit of lightning. I'm not actually 8 years old, in fact I'm actually immortal, but I'm asking you questions to see if you'd be an ideal candidate for my servant, and you're in a different dimensional plane where the gods reside and watch over the Earth. I think that about sums it up, right?" She looked to her general who nodded her head in confirmation.

"A goddess…" he mouthed in awe. "You two are goddesses?"

"Just her, actually. Shocking, I know," Phosphora commented. "I'm really more of what you'd call a primordial spirit of the elements."

"Oh! We should probably get your name for the interview."

"Adlar," he answered.

"Adlar? Like a snake?" Phosphora questioned.

"Idiot, that's an adder," the smaller one hissed.

"It's Azerbaijani if that helps," he offered.

"Azerbai-what?"

"Not important," Viridi interjected. "Anyway, Adlar, thank you so much for taking your time and ours to answer these questions. They may seem strange at times, but I assure you they are absolutely essential to the story and are not just being used as cheap cop out to drop all this information. Profession?"

"Hunter/Trapper."

"Uh-huh. Would you say you hate nature, love nature, or respect it?"

"Depends on the day I'm having."

"Ooh, good answer. I'm like that myself with humans," Viridi admitted. "Now how would you list your relationship status?"

"Sorry?"

"Aw, that's so sad," Phosphora cooed. "Maybe you should just stick with Single, Taken, or It's Complicated though."

"Single," he answered shaking his head. "But how is that relevant?"

"It just is," Viridi said, adjusting the glasses she was presently wearing on her face. She didn't actually need them to see. Being a goddess, she had perfect vision. Truth be told, she liked them because they made her feel more mature and refined. "Now, the position you've applied for requires a willingness to travel. Would you be willing to travel?"

"How far?"

"Everywhere."

"I guess so?"

"Family?"

"None to speak of."

"Friends?"

"I'm a hermit."

"You're pretty well kept for a hermit."

"I said I'm a hermit, not a bum. You have to look nice if you want people to pay you instead of throw things. Seriously though, why are you interviewing me? I didn't apply for a job."

"Of course you did," Viridi replied. "You just don't remember is all."

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember applying for a job to a divine entity. Especially one I've never heard of."

The clipboard fell from Viridi's hands to the ground in shock. "Oh shit," Phosphora murmured.

"You've never heard of me?!" she screamed, standing up and kicking away her chair. "How can you have never heard of me? I'm by far the most beautiful and adorable goddess of them all! You've heard of Palutena apparently, but you haven't heard of the one who stopped her divine ass when she was going on a bender because of some stupid ploy by another stupid, not adorable god, and...gah!"

She kicked her clipboard hard, sending it racing towards the man who caught it just before it would have slammed into his face. The goddess was seething now, her chest rising and falling as the anger began to subside. Phosphora gently rubbed her back. "Now, now Viridi. It's not his fault. He's a hermit, remember? Maybe he just doesn't know much about the gods."

"Actually, I go to the temples a lot. Typically to get payment for something I've done on behalf of the town or whatever," he replied. "I've never even seen a shrine to you."

"Not...even a shrine?" Viridi whined, before hugging her high general tightly and breaking into sobs. "Phosphora, why doesn't anyone like me?" she cried. "I'm so cute and adorable. Everyone should like me, but they don't! Why don't they like me?"

"Well, you used to try to kill them all on a regular basis…" she pointed out.

"So does Hades, but he gets statues and stuff," Viridi whimpered.

"Is that what this is about?" Adlar asked. "You're wanting more recognition in the temples and such?"

Viridi wiped her eyes. "It doesn't even have to be much. Just a couple of shrines would be more than enough. Maybe some offerings every now and then. I don't even want money. Just like a snack here and there when I'm travelling would be nice."

"That's it?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Okay, sure. I could do that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'll set up some shrines for you while I'm out and about, and I'll leave you some food here and there. Are you vegetarian?"

"Yes," she stated firmly. Behind her, Phosphora was signalling to him that she was lying.

"Got it…" he replied hesitantly. "Anything else?"

"Yes!"

"I'm listening."

"You also have to be my slave."

"What?"

"It's not that big of a deal," Viridi assured him. "You just have to do every little thing I ask you to, preferably without complaining."

"That, I'm not okay with." Viridi began to tear up again and started to wail, causing him to immediately hold up his hands. "Okay, okay! Fine. I'll be your slave, just please don't cry."

Viridi sniffled. "Tell me I'm cute."

"What?"

"Tell me I'm cute."

"You're cute," he surrendered. "Now will you please stop crying?"

She nodded. "Y-yeah...I'm feeling better now."

Phosphora moved to her side, staring up at the slightly taller man. "Tell me I'm cute, too," she pleaded. "Please?"

"This is seriously starting to get weird now."

Viridi nudged her general. "You're scaring him off," she warned.

"Oh and your crocodile tears weren't?"

"Hey, I'm _your_ boss, remember? I can just snap my fingers and you'll be dust."

"Lightning isn't made of matter genius, there isn't anything to turn into dust!"

"Then I'll turn you into nothing!"

"Ladies," Adlar boomed, causing them to both jump and turn to regard him. "Can I go now?"

"Oh, sure," Viridi grinned. "But before you do, there's one more thing."

"What's that?"

Viridi pulled out a gun and pointed it at his chest. "I have to shoot you with this thing."

"You have to shoot me?!"

"Yep." With a loud crack, the bullet whizzed through the air, slamming into chest and puncturing his heart. As he fell to the ground, blood pouring out of his wound, he began to feel dizzy. "Ooh, you were right, Phosphora. Not telling them about the gun is a good idea!"

"See? You should trust me more often."

"I do! Wasn't this guy your idea? I trust you a lot."

Adlar collapsed forward onto the ground, his eyes going vacant. Was this really how he was to die? Shot by a goddess in the form of a small child, for seemingly no reason at all. He began to cough, spatters of blood streaking across the cold tile his head rested on. "Umm...Viridi, he's not getting back up."

"Relax," she scoffed. "He'll be fine. It takes a bit of time is all. No big deal."

"You do realize humans _die_ when you shoot them in the heart, right? They kind of need that to live."

"What?!"

"Did you seriously not know that?!"

"Of course, not! How would I possibly know that?"

"Because _everything_ dies when you shoot it in the heart! You should know this! This is Cragalanche all over again."

"Don't bring up Cragalanche! That was a design flaw and you know it! He could have totally won if he'd been fixed like he was supposed to."

"Well what are we going to do now?" Phosphora asked. "Seeing as how you've killed our best candidate and what not."

"I didn't kill him," Viridi insisted. "Hey, human. Are you still alive?" She nudged him with her foot, causing him to give an agonized groan. "See? Alive."

"Come on, let's roll him over," Phosphora suggested, getting down to scoop her hands under his body. Viridi moved beside her and together, they easily rotated the man onto his back. "Bad news, I think his heart stopped."

"Well don't just stand there, do something!"

"Fine," she sighed before grumbling, "I'm always cleaning up your damned messes." Touching her fingers together, they began to sizzle with electricity. "Clear!" she declared, touching his chest and causing his body to surge.

"Did it work?"

"You tell me."

"Hit him again!"

"Clear!" The second time, Adlar took a deep gasp that sent him sitting straight up, to find Phosphora straddling his lap only an inch from his face. "Hello there," she giggled playfully.

He ignored her for the moment to shoot a glare at Viridi. "What the hell did you just do to me?!" he demanded. "I agree to help you so you shoot me in the chest?!"

"Well, I mean...you weren't supposed to die."

"I died?!"

"Only for a few seconds," Phosphora assured him.

"You could have killed me!"

"I did kill you…"

"For a few seconds," the general reminded.

Adlar ran his hand through his hair, tugging at it and pushing Phosphora away. "You know what? Nope. No. I'm done with this. Not going to do it."

"What?" Viridi asked.

"I'm out of here! I'm not going to be your servant. I'm just going to go back to my little tent, hunt some rabbits, maybe make a stew, and just pretend that none of this ever happened."

"But...but...I've already shot you! I only have just the one bullet! You can't quit."

"Well thank Palutena for that! I'd hate for you to shoot me again and kill me a second time!"

"What are we thanking me for exactly?" Palutena asked, strolling into the hall, her faithful angel at her side. Viridi and Phosphora quickly wheeled around and blocked the human from her view.

"Well I _would_ thank you for knocking, but seeing as how you haven't learned that lesson yet," Viridi huffed.

"Who's that you got there?" Pit asked.

"No one," the girls chimed.

"Lady Palutena, do you think it could be some sort of weapon?"

"I don't know, Pit."

"Would you mind your own business, angel face?!" Phosphora snapped.

"If it's a weapon to hurt humans, it is my business!" he argued. "Right, Lady Palutena?"

"Easy, Pit," she smiled, gently resting her hand on his shoulder. "It's not a weapon, is it Viridi?" Based on her tone, the goddess of nature knew that Palutena's question was rhetorical. "Come on, show us who it is."

Viridi sighed, stepping away to reveal the human who stood there in bewilderment. "A human?!" Pit gasped. "You can't bring a human to Skyworld!"

"Who says?" Viridi demanded.

"Lady Palutena says!"

"Actually…"

"Well who died and made her the goddess of humans?!"

"No one died specifically...I've always been…"

"Lady Palutena! Please, send me back home!" Adlar begged. "These two are insane!"

"Hey!" Phosphora protested. "I saved your life!"

"After your boss shot me in the heart!" he snapped.

"You did what?!" Palutena demanded. "Viridi, you killed him?!"

"Only for a few seconds!" she tried.

"Don't worry, human. I'll send you back where you came from," Palutena assured him, taking a step forward before she heard the paper from Viridi's clipboard crinkle underfoot. "Oh, what's this?"

"N-nothing!" Viridi snapped, trying to take it from her, but Palutena raised it overhead.

"Let's see. Interview for a human servant. Name: Adlar...Oh."

"You're trying to recruit a human?" Pit snorted, concealing his laughter. "How could you ever convince a human to work for you?"

"How do you feel about the goddess Palutena, on a scale of 1 to 5? 1 being 'Screw her, she stinks' and 5 being 'The things I'd do to her if I were able'. Very interesting."

"What?!" Pit exclaimed, glaring at the human. "You'd dare to do something naughty to Lady Palutena?"

"That wasn't his answer, Pit," she said, the smile never fading from her face as she crumpled up the paper into a ball and dropped it indignantly on the ground. "His answer was '2, she's just a dumb bimbo'."

"Now, hold on…!" Adlar tried to protest.

"Come on, Pit," Palutena called, turning on her heels. "I've suddenly forgotten how to send humans back to earth. Oh well, I'm sure he'll figure it out. Bye, Viridi. Good luck with your new servant."

"You jerk! I dare you to say something nasty about Lady Palutena to my face! I'll tear you a new one, I swear to Lady Palutena, you'll regret…" The angel's words trailed off as the goddess of light dragged him out of the hall, slamming the door shut behind her with a wave of her hand.

"So umm…" Adlar chuckled nervously, looking between the two divine beings. "About that ride back to earth…"

Viridi pouted at him. "Are you really not going to be my servant? If so, I wasted that bullet for nothing."

Phosphora cleared her throat. "Viridi, maybe you should actually explain to him what the bullet does, so it doesn't seem like you just shot him in the chest to kill him."

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Right! So, basically, I gave you a small little seed that is currently rushing through your bloodstream to your brain and makes you semi-divine."

"...what?"

"Yeah! Now your wounds will heal up, and you'll be stronger, and you'll be able to talk to plants. Pretty neat, huh?"

"Somehow, I doubt that a seed taking root in my brain is good for my health."

"We tested it on a centurion first," Viridi promised.

"And…?"

"After a year, his skull exploded. But I worked out that glitch now so you should be just fine!" she quickly added.

"I'm a dead man," he murmured. "Oh gods, I'm a dead man. Not by a bear or a wolf, no no, by a seed bullet that I was shot with by a little kid."

"I am not a kid!" Viridi snapped. "You know what? Fine then! Screw you! Screw the whole plan! Humans suck anyway!"

With a click of her fingers, Adlar was gone, and he found himself in the same place he was before, a confused bear sniffing around in an attempt to find where he'd gone off to. Before he had time to react, the bear wheeled on him, letting out an angry roar at having been tricked for so long, and just as he was about to reach him, a nasty thicket of thorns sprung up, entangling the bear and dragging him painfully to the ground.

Viridi suddenly popped into existence right beside him. "Hey there...so about the things that were said between us, I've thought it over a bit and I realized that perhaps I was a little bit unfair. I mean, I should have asked you for certain if you wanted to be my servant, kind of like a 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' 'Is that your final answer' sort of a thing, before I shot you with the bullet. But see, there's a slight hitch. That bullet too me a reeeeeeally long time to make, and it's super annoying to craft a whole new one for another human, so would you please be my servant? Pretty, pretty, please with a cherry on top?"

Adlar stood there in silence for a moment, looking to her and then to the restrained bear who was wriggling in the thorns. "If I say 'no', are you going to let the bear go?"

"Most likely," she beamed.

"Then I guess I don't really have much of a choice. You're kind of twisting my arm here."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes."

"Shake on it?" she requested offering her hand. He reached out, taking her hand in his and with a whoosh of air, Viridi was gone, leaving him alone with the bear.

"She's gone. Finally," he gasped.

"Actually, I can hear everything you say," she chimed in his head. "Now the first place I want you to build me a shrine at is the top of a mountain about fifteen klicks to the West. So start riding off, cowboy. By the time you get there, I should have that whole brain explosion thing sorted out, so no worries."

"I thought you said you already sorted out the brain explosion thing!" he cried.

"Ooh...yeah, I did say that, didn't I. Yeah, you know what? Let's go with that. It's already been sorted out. Anyway, get moving or I'll have Phosphora strike you with lightning."

"Okay, okay. I'm going, see?" he swore, beginning his journey. He could already tell his new life was going to be hell. "Sheesh. Want me to shine your divine shoes when I get there?"

"Actually, that would be really nice. Okay! I'll put my shoes where I want you to build the altar. Also, if you could build it with your shirt off, it would be greatly appreciated. Right now you're on something of a probationary period, so we need to be able to erm...audit your physique. Just for clerical purposes, you understand."

With a groan, he slipped off the leather tunic he wore and stuffed it into his bag. Up in Skyworld, Viridi and Phosphora high fived before watching him with interest. "So, we're really doing this, huh?" Phosphora asked. "We're actually officially working with a human, now."

"Yep," Viridi grinned. "I have high hopes for him. I think this is going to work out really well for us. I can't see anyway this can go wrong or backfire at all."

"Dibs."

"Game on," the goddess challenged with a smug grin. "First one to make him fall in love with them wins."

"Challenge accepted," Phosphora smirked. "I'm pretty sure he already has fallen in love with me."

"He has to profess it."

"We'll just ask him when he gets done with the next shrine. We'll see which of us gets to have the mortal wrapped around our finger."

"Yes. Yes we will."

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

Nature's Judgment Ch. 2

 **AN: Warning! Lemons in bound. I hope you guys enjoy. I'm also working on my original works. If you guys are interested, feel free to add me on Skype: Kiba Vulpus Elunal. You'll be able to get free copies of my books, as well as some exclusives and WIP updates. Thanks for your support! -Kiba**

Sweat was dripping off of Adlar's brow as he climbed the mountain's mighty face. His arm trembled, reaching out for the next handhold, and when he'd managed to hold on to it, he shifted his weight to bring up his leg to where his hand had previously rested.

Another few minutes passed by and he found himself sitting on a small precipice almost three fourths up the mountain. Dangling his legs over the edge, he leaned back against the wall to rest, lungs heaving and heart pounding. "Gods damn it," he gasped. "This damned kid is going to be the death of me."

"Still not a kid," Viridi interjected, appearing beside him, hands on her hips.

The sudden intrusion made him jump, and for a moment he feared he would fall the long and potentially lethal way down. "What is the matter with you?! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Aww, don't be mad. I just came to check on my favorite human to see how he was doing." The small Goddess gave him an adorable pout.

"In a word: exhausted. Why couldn't I just take the damn cable-car up the mountain again? Why do I have to climb the sheerest cliff on this Gods-forsaken rock?"

"No reason," Viridi replied, her eyes lowering from his to the tan skin of his torso, glistening with sweat. She just wanted to be swept up in his mighty arms and have her face shoved there so she could lick it from him. Despite herself, she ran her tongue across her lips at the thought, causing him to shudder.

"Please, stop fantasizing about me. It's getting creepy."

"Wh-what?! I wasn't fantasizing! How could you possibly be so arrogant as to think that?"

"Gods knows I was," a voice interjected behind him, making him give another start. "Hello again, Adder."

"Adlar," he corrected, his eyes narrowing. "Great, you're here, too. Can I please put my clothes back on, now?"

"No," both girls said at the same time.

"Fine," he gasped in exasperation, turning back towards the cliff face. "If you two don't mind, I'm going to keep going. The sooner this shrine is set up, the sooner I can be done with all this craziness."

"Done? You can't be done!" Viridi cried.

"Hey! I told you I'd set up a shrine for you. I'm setting up a shrine for you. After that, I'm gone. I'm like a cableman, okay? I lay the cable, then I leave, and that's it. I don't stick around after that."

"You're going to give us cable?" Phosphora asked, her eyes shining with excitement. "Yes! Finally, we can watch Supernatural without having to peep through someone's window to do it!"

"He's not giving us cable," Viridi lectured her general before quirking an eyebrow at her servant. "Are you?"

"No! Gods, it was a metaphor!"

"Ooh, a smart one, huh? Okay then. Let's use your metaphor. Yes, that's true, you lay the cable, but then do you know what the cableman does? He goes to another house elsewhere and lays more cable. He goes home, goes to bed, makes love to his beautiful wife/girlfriend/lover/goddess and then the next day, he goes out, and he does it all over again. So yes, my dear cableman. You'll be laying cables all over the place and you'll be doing it for the rest of your life until I no longer have use for you."

"That was not our agreement!" he growled.

"Doesn't matter. I'm you goddess, so you have to do what I say, ha!"

"Or, once I get to the top of this mountain, I could _not_ set up your shrine and instead take a flying leap and take my chances in the underworld. Can't imagine it'd be much different than this damned job."

Viridi leaned over to Phosphora. "Are we allowed to get a shrine in the underworld? That'd be pretty sweet."

"I don't know, we should definitely look into it though."

"And I'm officially done talking to both of you. Will you two just buzz off or whatever it is your goddesses do to go away?"

"I'm the goddess, she's the primordial spirit of lightning. Come on, weren't you paying any attention during orientation?"

"I was a tad bit preoccupied with surviving a bullet wound to my chest!"

"But you did survive!"

"No he didn't. I had to revive him remember? He was dead for a few seconds."

"Shut up, Phosphora! You're not helping! You're just going to scare him off!"

The flirty blonde slid up to him carefully, gently resting her head against his shoulder. Batting her eyes at him, she gave him a hungry wolf-like smile. "Anyway, handsome. Since I'm sure you're super grateful that I brought you back, and since you've been doing such a wonderful job so far, maybe I could reward you once you've reached the top? I mean, if you're going to be on your knees anyway, shouldn't one of us get to enjoy it? We could take turns if you like."

"Eww! Phosphora, you're going to gross him out! No one wants to lick your nasty twat."

"Who's twat are you calling nasty?!"

"Yours, you nasty twat!"

"Well at least I have breasts!"

"I do have breasts! Just because they're smaller doesn't mean anything! Guys like small breasts, too!"

"Oh? Which guy told you that? Let me guess, your boyfriend who lives in Canada?"

"Shut up! I told you we broke up!"

"You broke up with your imaginary boyfriend? That's so pathetic!"

As the two of them squabbled, Adlar took the opportunity to turn away from the girls and begin scaling the cliff again. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. When he'd vanished, Viridi and Phosphora looked around in confusion.

"Great going Phosphora, you scared him off with your dirty sex talk."

"I scared him off? You're the one who was going all 'You serve me forever', like some kind of twisted demon child."

"I am _not_ a child!"

"You're just jealous because I called dibs and you didn't," her general smirked. "Anyway, I'm going to go back to Skyworld and change, then I'm going to wait at the top for _my_ human lover. He may be building a shrine to you, but I'll have him screaming my name."

With a streak of blue light, she left Viridi standing there. "You bitch! You'd better not fuck him on my new shrine!" She turned back to look at him, a scowl on her lips. "Fine. Two can play that game, you slut."

When Adlar finally reached the peak, he rolled onto his back, struggling to breathe in the thin frigid air. His nipples had hardened like rocks, and he was worried he'd die of the cold. Scooping up some dried sticks on the path towards the summit, he began to rub them together and soon had a nice cozy fire to keep warm.

He gave a sigh of relief, warming his hands with the flames before looking around for a good place to put the temple. Sure enough, just as the girl had promised, her shoes sat not far from him, residing in front of what looked like a miniature make-shit hut, were the hut missing its roof.

After a few more minutes, he sighed, standing up and walking towards the hut. It was old, possibly an abandoned foundation for a home that had crumbled over time with the weather. Viridi had instructed him to plant a seed at the shrine, and if she'd selected this place, she must have wanted it in the building.

Grabbing the pickaxe from his belt, he got to work, swinging it hard over and over again. With every clash against the stone, the sharp metal point would cause large cracks, allowing him to pull away chunks of the old rock. Soon, he'd created a hole in it about the size of his fist that allowed him to dig into the dirt, perfect for planting the seed.

"What do you think you're doing?" a young voice demanded behind him.

Aldar gave an impatient huff, turning towards the presence. When his eyes fell upon the young angel, he gave a groan. "Great, now you're going to bother me, too?" The ranger was not happy about this at all, especially since he regarded him just as annoying as the other two.

"Of course I am! You're tearing up a shrine to Lady Palutena!"

"Shrine? Are you kidding me?! How is this damned thing a shrine?" he asked. "It was just a pile of rocks!"

"It used to be a temple, and besides appearances don't matter! It's the feeling that counts!" Pit argued.

"The only _feeling_ you're going to have is my foot going so far up your ass that the water on my knee quenches your thirst. I'm warning you kid, I am not in the mood to mess around right now. So go away, I'm going to finish my job."

Just as he reached into his pouch for his seed, a brilliant blue arrow blasted it from his hand. "Oops," Pit mocked. "My bad."

"Gods help me, I'm about to strangle an angel," Adlar grumbled. He tried to ignore Pit, only for him to shoot the seed from his hand again.

"Sorry. Must have slipped."

That did it! Adlar was done! Drawing his own bow, he nocked an arrow and drew back, taking aim at the angel. "I will not ask you again! Go away or I swear to your precious Palutena, I will put you down!"

"Ha! You? You're just a human! The only human I've ever seen able to keep up with me is Magnus, and I'm still more than strong enough to take him on!"

With a twang, Adlar's arrow flew, slicing Pit's cheek and embedding into the ground behind him. Quickly aiming another arrow at him, Adlar warned him again. "Last chance, kid. Leave or I'll kill you."

"That does it! I'm going to show you what happens when you mess with the light of Lady Palutena!"

The angel's bow snapped in two, becoming a pair of razor sharp blades as he dashed forward. Adlar quickly turned his blow deflecting Pit's wrist away from him to keep himself from being stabbed.

Rolling away from the angel's second attack, he tossed his bow aside and drew an axe and a knife, ready to fight back. "Have it your way!" he growled, meeting steel with steel. As the two locked into a fierce melee, Adlar clashed with the angel again and again.

He was amazed by the effect that Viridi's bullet had on his body. He felt stronger and more agile. Despite how tired he'd felt when he'd reached the top of the cliff, he had plenty of energy now, and he felt like he could do anything.

"All right, you're pretty good," Pit commented, the two locking weapons and growling at each other. "But no one can beat me! I'm the Captain of Lady Palutena's divine army!"

"Please, you're just a brat whose mother fucked a bird," Adlar shot back before driving his knee into Pit's stomach. When the angel doubled over, the ranger spun and kicked him hard in the chin, sending him onto his back a few feet away.

"What did you say?!" Pit growled. "I don't even have a mother! I was created by the Lady Palutena!"

"Are you kidding me? Then that means she's your mom, kid. I can't believe you want to do stuff with your mom. They should call you Kid Oedipus."

"You're dead!" The angel drew his bow to finish Adlar off, but when the human lifted his hand protectively, a swirling pink vortex of energy blasted out sending the angel's arrow careening into the sky.

"What the hell was that?" Adlar murmured, staring down at his hands. Thorny tendrils snaked across his skin like a tattoo, leading to an ethereal orb that rested in the palm of his hands. Staring at him was Viridi's beaming face, causing him to let out a groan. Great, now he had a tattoo of her?!

"I won't lose to you!"

Realizing that angel was still on the offensive, the human fired another vortex at him, striking him hard and ripping his clothes into tatters. "Enough!" Palutena declared, manifesting between the two. "Pit, what has gotten into you?"

"L-lady Palutena! I caught this human destroying your temple! He said awful things about you and about me!"

"You swore an oath to protect humans, Pit. You shouldn't kill them ever! Even if it's a matter of life and death, you should strive to end things peacefully!"

"Listen to the woman, kid. She knows what she's talking about," Adlar chimed before scooping up his weapons and going to plant the seed.

"Don't think you're off the hook, either! What is your problem with me that you feel it necessary to come to a holy place and defile it by tearing it to pieces?"

He looked at the beautiful goddess with a frown. "Look, I'm just doing what Viridi asked me to. She wants me to build her a shrine, so I'm building her a shrine. If you recall, you're the one who refused to send me back to Earth and left me into this mess."

"Well, you did call me a bimbo."

"No, I didn't. They asked me how I felt about you on a scale of 1 to 5. I picked 2. They didn't tell me any of the other stuff."

"You only gave her a two?!" Pit snapped behind her. "You ungrateful jerk! She's at least a 10, no a one hundred!"

"Peace, Pit," Palutena urged him before turning back to the ranger. "Why do you hate me?"

"You destroyed my home. You killed my wife, my kids, my entire family. I went from having everything to having nothing in the span of a single day."

She visibly sank. "Yes, well...I was not myself then. I was possessed by Hades, and it was thanks to Pit and Viridi that I managed to come back to my senses."

"I know," he countered. "That doesn't change the fact that the people I loved are dead. What's more, I didn't get anything in return. Not even an apology."

Just as the angel was about to protest again, Palutena placed her hand over his mouth. "You're right. I'm sorry about your family. I wish there was something I could do, but I'm afraid that even with my divine power I can't bring them back from the dead."

"Yeah, I expected as much. Just tell me this, are they in a better place now?"

"Yes," she swore.

"Good. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to finish this shrine so I can go back to work. Oh...and just for the record, I didn't know this was your temple. Viridi just told me she wanted it up here, and she placed her shoes out front, so I assumed she wanted it inside. It was just a misunderstanding. No hard feelings."

"It's fine," Palutena sighed. "No one worships up here anymore anyway. Why trek all the way to the mountains when you're able to simply go to the temple just across the street from your home? Come on, Pit. We're leaving."

As she began to ascend in a pillar of light, the angel stuck his tongue out at the ranger before vanishing as well, leaving him alone. The human used his hands to dig a small hole in the ground, placing the seed carefully there and covering it back up with soil again.

Taking his waterskin from his hip, he soaked the ground slightly, causing the plant to immediately bud from the earth. It grew swiftly before his very eyes, forming a large tree that branched out before letting willow-like vines trail to the ground. Beautiful flowers blossomed along the vines, filling the air with a heavenly scent.

A smile came to Adlar's face. As much as he complained, he had to admit, the sight of the tree was breathtaking. If someone were to come all the way up here, it'd be worth the trip. Placing a censer at the tree's roots, he slipped in a few sticks of incense and lit them, the smoke floating up towards the heavens.

Clapping his hands together, he bowed his head to pray to Viridi and complete the ritual. "Wow, impressive," Phosphora commented.

"Thank you," he replied, turning before his eyes went wide at the sight of the girl. She already wore rather revealing clothes on the average. Her attire usually consisted of bike shorts, boots, and a croptop, but now she was practically wearing nothing but postage stamps. "Wh-what are you wearing?!"

"Heehee, you like it?" she asked, doing a seductive twirl for him. "Did you think I was kidding about rewarding you?"

"Frankly, yes."

She strut towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck and gazing lustfully into his eyes. "Well, I wasn't. So, what do you say, paladin? Care to indulge in some bad behavior? It's not a sin if it's with a divine being."

"Oh, no you don't!" Viridi snapped, shoving the two of them apart. "He hasn't finished his ritual yet."

"I haven't?"

"Of course not," she smirked. "How are you supposed to bless this place if you don't even worship your goddess properly? We'll start out simple, with a kiss. Just one touch of your lips to mine, top or bottom, you choose, and then we'll just see where we go from there."

"Why are you both so interested in me?"

"Well, listen to this guy," Phosphora scoffed. "Thinking he's some bigshot for us to fawn over like a couple of horny schoolgirls."

"You are fawning over me like a couple of horny schoolgirls."

"I am _not_ fawning," Viridi protested. "I am merely wanting to make sure that my new shrine is properly sanctified, and I can't do that without extracting some sort of seed. I just thought it'd be more convenient to use you, since you're here."

"You're kidding me. You realize you look like a small child, right?"

"I'm not small!" she cried, flailing her arms.

"Told you," Phosphora yawned. "Oh well, looks like I'll have to be the one who gets the seed, hmm?"

A giant flower engulfed Viridi before withering away in an instant, revealing her to now look like an eighteen year old version of her form. "There, better?" she demanded.

"I guess, but I'm still not very comfortable with this."

"That's okay, I can fix that," Viridi grinned.

Before Aldar could ask what she meant, the vines of the tree snapped around his wrists and ankles, holding him suspended in the air before her. "What is this?!"

"There! Now that you're tied up, it doesn't matter if you're comfortable with it or not, right?"

"Are you kidding me? That's rape, you psychopath!"

Viridi looked at Phosphora. "Can you rape men? I didn't even realize that was a thing."

"I think it's only a thing if they don't enjoy it...I'm not sure. It's a little iffy."

"Are you kidding me?!" Adlar shouted. "Yes, you can rape a man! And no, I am not enjoying the idea of being tied up like this." As he continued to struggle, his hand opened and a pink heart blasted from his hand to strike Phosphora in the chest, causing her to give a gasp. "Wh-what just happened?" he asked. "Seriously, what did this thing you put in my hand just do?"

"Great," Viridi grumbled. "Now her dirty twat is going to drip all over my new shrine."

Phosphora gave a loud moan, her fingers slipping between her legs to stroke herself through the thong she wore. "At l-least, I don't sh-shop in the kid's section for bras," she gasped, shooting the goddess a glare. "F-fuck! I need to get off so badly!"

"Oh no! No, no, no. You're not using _my_ paladin to satisfy your horny cooter's itch. You can just use your hand, because as far as I'm concerned, you-mmf!?"

The high general shut her boss up by wrapping her arms around her and roughly shoving her lips against hers. As she sucked on them, Viridi squirmed in her grip to get away, only for Aldar's struggling to result in another pink heart-shaped burst striking her as well.

As her squirming came to a slow, Viridi closed her eyes, quickly working to help her general out of her clothes. "So...a thought occurs to me," she panted.

"Y-yeah?" Phosphora moaned, before kissing her throat. "What's that?"

"M-maybe I shouldn't have made myself vulnerable to the Viridi Palm."

"Maybe, but it's too late for that now, right?"

Their hips began to grind lewdly together, their arousal now beginning to drip down their legs. The two girls explored one another's bodies, their hands taking in every curve as they continued to make out in front of the bound human. "Hello?" he gasped. "Still tied up here. A little help, please?"

"We could always share him," Phosphora suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Viridi agreed. "I've got dibs on his cock though."

"Fine with me."

" _Not_ fine with me!" Aldar protested before the tree suddenly slapped him hard against the stone floor of the old temple. He gave a disoriented groan as roots forced their way through the earth and tied him to the ground.

"There, problem solved," Viridi panted, quickly stripping out of her usually modest robes, and revealing her body to the parties present. Running her hands to her breasts, she cupped the now swollen mounds and weighed them in her hands. "How do you deal with these weights on your chest? I swear, they seem so cumbersome." As she tweaked her nipples, her eyes lit up and she gasped in delight. "Never mind."

Phosphora wasn't listening however. She'd moved to the bound paladin and gently crouched beside his head. "Hey there," she purred to him, caressing his cheek. "I hope you're not too sour about all this. In a way this is your fault for hitting us with the pheromone shot."

"It was an accident! I don't even know how I did it!"

"Once you get me off, I'll teach you," Phosphora swore, leaning down to kiss his lips sweetly. Tingling sensations ran down Adlar's body as she gently slid her tongue into his mouth. The pleasurable feelings caused his struggles to slow and soon he found himself sucking on the beautiful blonde's lips eagerly before she pulled away. "Finally, you're getting into the spirit," she grinned, moving to straddle his face.

As her juices dripped onto his lips, he inadvertently licked them away, only causing his lustful instincts to carry into hyperdrive. "H-hey! Don't start without me!" Viridi complained, running to join the two. "Now let's see here, we're supposed to take this and…"

Rummaging into his leather bottoms, she undid his fly and pulled out his swelling member. He shivered from the exposure to the cool air, causing Phosphora to give a soft giggle. "Your eyes are the size of the moon, Viridi. Is this the first time you've seen one?"

"N-no!" she protested. "Just...the first time in real life."

"That's adorable," Phosphora laughed. "Well here, trade places with me. It may hurt if you take his cock. Let him use his tongue on you instead. It'll be more gentle in the short term."

"Okay," she agreed, moving to straddle his face as her general had done. "Thanks Phosphora. You're always looking out for me."

"Of course," she smirked, beginning to run her soft fingers up and down his cock. It soon was painfully hard for Adlar, standing proud and fully erect under Phosphora's ministrations. "There we go. On the count of three?" She straddled his hips, guiding his tip towards her soaked slit.

Viridi got into position as well, her cheeks bright red as she nodded to show she too was ready. The two girls began to count. "One...two...three!" Both ladies sank simultaneously. Adlar felt a sudden tightness around his shaft, causing him to give a moan before it was quickly muffled by Viridi's pussy.

Somewhere in his mind, he continued to struggle against the two, but when Viridi slowly dragged her fingernails along his chest, he fell into obedience, kissing her mound gently. "Mmm, that feels nice," she commented.

"Did you have any idea he was this big when you picked him, Viridi?" Phosphora gasped. "If so, then I have to say you are amazing! His cock fits perfectly inside of me! I feel so full, but he isn't stretching me. It's incredible!"

"Well, I'm glad one of us is enjoying ourselves," she muttered. "He's not being very energetic on this end."

Phosphora frowned before tightening her thighs painfully around his shaft, sending an uncomfortable surge of electricity through his body. "Hey, you. Pay your goddess the proper tribute! Don't you know how to treat someone as divine and beautiful as Viridi?"

He groaned into Viridi's crotch, his legs squirming beneath Phosphora in protest before he finally began to slip his tongue in and out of his goddess. The moment Viridi's lips curled into the dumbstruck grin that showed off her satisfaction, Phosphora smiled, loosening up.

"Good boy," she cooed.

"Sp-speaking of tributes," Viridi gasped. "You're not paying much tribute either, Phosphora."

The lightning spirit grumbled as she bent forward. She dragged her aroused nipples along Adlar's muscular abs, trailing soft kisses up his chest until she reached his chin which was just poking out from between Viridi's legs. Grinding her hips against his, Phosphora smirked at her boss, extending her arms to support herself on her thighs before planting a playful kiss on her clit. Just for added measure, she sent a pleasurable shock into Viridi's love button, causing her to give a loud squeal of delight.

"Y-you tricky minx!" she gasped, grasping the blonde's hair and shoving her harder against her clit. "You'll...nngh...pay for your insolence."

Adlar's tongue plumbed the goddess' depths, caressing her hymen before pressing inside of it to stroke her inner walls. He could feel the thin membrane stretch around his rough muscle, but was careful not to tear it. The last thing he wanted was to deflower her. Not like this anyway.

He shook the thought from his head, continuing his affections out of obligation. He didn't plan on deflowering her at all. This was a one-time thing. He couldn't help it this time because he was tied down, but he'd be more on his guard next time.

When he found his tongue joined by another, he sighed happily, caressing Phosphora's muscle with his own as he sank deeper into his lust. Maybe this wasn't so bad, he decided. As if to reward such thoughts, her muscles quivered around his cock, sending even more pleasure into his body.

"St-stop! There's not enough room for both of you!" Viridi protested, but her general was too lost in pleasure to halt now. She stretched her hymen a little more, guiding their new servant's tongue to her boss' g-spot.

The nature goddess let out a squeal of delight, rewarding her faithful zealots with a squirt of her sweet cum. She began to wiggle her hips happily, her tongue lolling out of the corner of her mouth while her hands played with her nipples.

"Yes, yes! Worship me!" she commanded. "Sings your hymns into me! I want to be able to feel every line!" Phosphora pulled from her pussy with a giggle, her chin dripping from her pussy juices. "Wh-why did you stop?" Viridi protested.

"So I could do this." Grasping the goddess roughly by the hair, Phosphora shoved her tongue into her mouth, making sure to spread her cum throughout her warm maw. Viridi sputtered at first, wanting to pull away in disgust at the feeling of her own cum being put into her mouth, but finding the taste to be enjoyable, she soon surrendered and pressed back against her servant.

The two women made out as Phosphora bounced herself on their paladin's thick cock, grateful to feel his crown brushing against her sweet spot in a way that drove her wild. Wrapping her arms around Viridi, she pressed her plump tits against the goddess'. With her movements, their nipples rubbed together, and the lightning spirit was certain she was losing her sanity.

"I don't g-get it! H-how is he lasting so long?" she gasped. "He still hasn't even cum, but I'm so close already!" In response, Adlar slowly timed her movements before suddenly thrusting his hips forward and lifting her clear off the ground, much to her ecstasy. She clamped down around him, flooding his crotch with her orgasm. "Oh Viridi!" she cried out.

"What?"

"N-nothing. Just...I was crying out to you because it felt so good!"

"Don't rub it in!"

"I thought you liked it when I rubbed it in," Phosphora panted teasingly, grasping the goddess' tits so that she could massage and tease them. "Nngh...I don't think he's going to cum anytime soon. We should hurry this up, don't you...mmm...think?"

"H-how?"

Phosphora climbed off of his shaft, planting one last kiss on her boss before slowly guiding her down to drape her body over her servant. Understanding her intentions, Viridi blushed brightly, kissing his tip softly before running her tongue along his crown to clean it of her general's cum.

Adlar let out a groan, trying to raise his hips again so he could get his cock into the goddess' silken mouth, but the high general already had anticipated this. Putting her weight down on his thighs, she kept him pinned, wrapping her lips around his balls to suck on them playfully.

This was pure torture for him! Having not one, but two divine creatures pleasuring his cock was agonizing to the ranger. He wanted to cum so badly, but the shock Phosphora had given him earlier made it difficult for him to reach that point of release. Worse, now Viridi was teasing him!

His hand reached for his knife which had clattered to the ground beside him, and when he managed to get his fingertips on it, he pulled it into his grip and began sawing away at his binds.

Viridi wrapped her fingers around his shaft, holding it steady as she ran her tongue along his glans, giggling from the way his member twitched and quivered in need. Soon his hand was free though, and reaching forward, he grasped her hair, shoving her further down his cock much to her surprise.

She gave a muffled cry of protest as he pushed her further, his tip tickling the back of her throat and making her eyes water. For a brief moment, it seemed like he'd released her, but when she pulled back, he just shoved her back down again, over and over again.

She continued to gag as her rose petal lips scraped up every drop of excess cum that Phosphora had left behind, unable to control the speed or depth that Adlar was guiding her to. When her high general noticed, she gave a catty purr, staring up at her boss and waiting for the most opportune time.

Her fingers crackled with a small spark of electricity and pressing her fingers just beneath his cock, she sent the small blue volt straight through his body and into his prostate. The ranger cried out into the Goddess' snatch, driving her to another orgasm and as he guzzled down her cum, he finally felt release.

Adlar came _hard_! Ribbons of his hot steaming seed flooded Viridi's mouth, causing her eyes to widen in surprise. She attempted to jerk back, but he just held her there, cumming more and more.

She didn't even realize it was possible to have this much seed, but thanks to the way that Phosphora was milking his prostate with electricity, she soon found her mouth filled to the brim with sperm.

Her paladin laid back panting heavily from the force of his orgasm. Just as he released her, however, the high general replaced his hand with her own, holding her down on his cock. "Now, now, boss. I know you're not about to spit your paladin's tribute all over the ground are you? That'd be very cruel of you, not to mention very unlady-like. Everyone knows that a proper lady swallows."

The goddess gave a whine of protest, trying hard to block out the foul smell of his seed. Even the taste was less than pleasurable, but seeing that her general wouldn't release her otherwise, she finally and reluctantly began to gulp down his load.

Despite that she disliked the taste, she had to admit she enjoyed the warm feeling of the thick spunk sliding down the back of her throat to deposit into her stomach. There was so much, she had to swallow at least three times to get it all, and by the last one, she found herself wishing there was more.

Finally, Phosphora released her, allowing her to take a large gasp of air as she sat up. "That was so mean," she complained, but her general just smiled, reaching out cup her cheek. Leaning in, she ran her tongue along her chin and lips to collect the few stray drops of semen that glazed the goddess' skin, before pulling back.

"That was fantastic," she sighed happily, climbing off of the paladin.

Viridi, too, pulled away from Adlar, gently drawing circles on his chest with her finger as she snuggled up beside him. "So, my servant? I trust that I won't be receiving any more complaints about how hard your work is. See how generous of a goddess I am? There's more for you once you've finished polishing my shoes and setting up my next altar. This time, I want you to go about ten kilometers North. There's this beautiful hot spring in the forest with a waterfall, so you'd better get there quickly if you want more of this." Leaning in, she sweetly kissed his cheek as Phosphora cuddled beside him on the other side to mirror her boss. "For now though, I'm tired. So, by divine decree, you are allowed to hold me here while I nap. You'd better not wake me up."

Adlar didn't hear her though. Despite that his arms were curled around the two beauties, he'd already fallen fast asleep from the amount of energy that they'd forced him to exert.

To be continued...


	3. Chapter 3

Nature's Judgement Ch. 3

 **AN: Hey everyone! So I didn't manage to get 12 reviews on my book, but no need to fret. All of the messages of support that I've received from you have been a huge help to me. Even just buying my book really gives me a leg up. Thank you so much to those of you who donated to my Patron or to pay pal. I will continue uploading over time, and while it will still be slow, rest assured that I am grateful to have you all behind me. -Kiba**

When Adlar woke up, he had a throbbing pain in his...well everything. Every part of his body was sore and despite having slept for what felt like a full day, he was still exhausted. Sitting up, he looked up at the enormous tree that had sprouted in beautiful flowers before suddenly all of the memories of what happened came rushing back. "VIRIDI!" he roared, rage flaring up in his eyes.

"Good morning, paladin!" she sang cheerfully, manifesting before him.

"I can't believe you!" he snapped. "I agreed to help you! No one else even knows you exist, and I agreed to help set up temples and shrines, and you _**rape**_ me? What is the matter with you?!"

"Whoa, whoa! Watch what accusations you're throwing around!" she countered. "We established before that it wasn't rape."

"What do you mean, _we_? _I_ very clearly said 'This is rape!' If that wasn't enough for you to understand, I'll be more clear. _Leave me alone_!"

Viridi pouted, rubbing her arm. "You seemed like you were enjoying it," she murmured.

"You tied me down! You had to physically restrain me!"

"Y-yeah, but then you were into it! You even escaped at one point and still didn't try to leave or anything."

"You probably did that, too!"

"I'm done," he declared. "I did not sign up for this. For a Goddess of life, you don't seem to care about anyone's but your own. You have twisted my arm, guilt tripped me, blackmailed me...to be honest, I don't care what you do anymore. If you want shrines, make them your damned self."

He turned to leave, but she quickly rushed to his side, wrapping her arms around his to try to hold him back. "Wait, no! Please, don't go!"

"Why shouldn't I?" he growled, dragging her easily through the dirt.

"Because I don't want you to go!"

"Oh! That sounds like a very selfless reason," he shot sarcastically.

"It's because you're my favorite human!"

He paused, looking at her in complete shock. "I'm your favorite human? Why? Because you can just use me however you want?"

"No!" When she saw that he was listening, she released his arm. "Humans are destructive creatures. They destroy everything! They abuse the world and they kill each other in wars. They slaughter the animals and the trees…"

He gave a half-hearted chuckle. "And you think I'm different? Maybe you forgot, _Goddess_ , but I'm a trapper. My _job_ is to slaughter animals. I've killed more living things than just about any other human on this earth, and believe me, it's a living." Tears were starting to form in Viridi's eyes as she stared up at him. "What? You're going to cry now? Don't be naive. Did you really think that there was a human, _any_ human, who would be willing to die to protect all of nature, when nature would never give them the same courtesy? You want to know why we destroy nature, Viridi? It's because nature destroys us. You want to talk about war? What about the war of survival? Last I checked, there are places all over the world that are starving. People who need water and rain but haven't had it in _years_. Do you grow them crops? You could easily make it rain for countries who need it."

"I'm sorry," she meekly replied.

"You should be!" he snapped, his voice colder than she'd ever heard it before. "You're the Goddess of _all_ living things, Viridi. Whether you like it or not, that includes humans, too. I'm leaving. Good luck finding another paladin, because I'm done."

"Wait," she cried after him.

"No."

"Please, I...Look, I have a gift for you."

He glanced over his shoulder at her skeptically. "What, you going to shoot me again?"

She shook her head, her cheeks stained with tears. "I really am sorry. You have to understand, humans destroy more than any other creature on earth. Everyone treats them like they're special, and…" she paused, shaking her head. "You are special. You're special to me. So, please, for your forgiveness, I have a gift for you. If you head ten kilometers to the North, behind a waterfall, there's a large cavern with a hot spring in it that has waters that cure fatigue. Only the Gods know about it, but I'm telling you."

He gave a soft groan. Damn it, he was going to forgive her again! He couldn't help it though. As cold as he tried to be about his life, the truth was he tried his best to hold himself accountable for his work. He never over hunted, he made sure to replant any trees he cut down, he'd even killed other humans who'd begun poaching in the forests. Of all the humans who could claim they didn't care about nature, he wasn't one of them. "Come here," he finally surrendered.

When she walked up to him, he wrapped his arms around the small Goddess and drew her close to him in a hug. Hugging him back, she nuzzled her head into his chest, enjoying the embrace. "So you forgive me?"

"Yes, just so long as you swear you won't rape me again."

"I swear."

"That goes double for your little lightning bug, got it?"

"Okay," she agreed. "I'll pass it on."

"All right. Get back up in your sky castle or whatever. Who knows what crazy things can happen if the Goddess of nature isn't doing her job."

Wiping her eyes, she nodded and vanished from his sight. Giving a sigh, he began the slow trek down the mountain.

* * *

After about half a day to get down from the mountain top and find the waterfall, he really hoped that Viridi wasn't yanking his chain. A mystical hotspring that healed fatigue sounded wonderful. Sure enough, as he carefully walked along the narrow cliff edge behind the waterfall, he found himself in a room with a large pool of steaming water that glowed with a divine light.

Slipping out of his clothes, he stepped inside of the pool and immediately a smile spread across his face. She wasn't kidding, this was wonderful. Part of him almost felt being raped was worth it, but his senses thankfully kept him from coming to that conclusion.

"Yes! Hot springs time!" a voice called out before a loud splash interrupted the tranquility Adlar was enjoying.

Opening his eyes, he came face to face with the angel from before. "Oh great," the ranger grumbled.

"You!"

"Yes, me."

"What are you doing here?! Only the Gods know about this place!"

"Wow, it's almost like I...I don't know...work for a Goddess or something," he retorted sarcastically.

"And...you're naked!" Pit cried in horror. "What kind of a monster are you that you would defile the hot spring with your naked body?! That's gross!"

"That's gross?" he argued. "Kid, my body would be soaking in this tub even with my clothes on. It's not like they're waterproof you realize. Besides the point of a bath is for it to clean _me_. It's not like I'm making the spring dirty by being in it. And you're the weird one for wearing clothes for the record."

"An angel always has to be ready for duty!"

"Good thing I'm not an angel then," he huffed. "Look buddy, I'm off the clock, all right? If you'd like to join me, you're more than welcome to, but I'd rather not spoil the bath with fighting."

"Well, at least that's something we can agree on," Pit sighed in surrender before sinking into the water across from him. After a few minutes of silence, the angel spoke up. "Can I ask you a question?"

"I suppose."

"Why do you hate Palutena, but not Viridi? Viridi killed a lot of humans, too. Probably even more than Lady Palutena did."

"I don't hate Palutena."

"But…"

"I dislike her, to be sure. But I don't hate her. Hate is a stupid emotion. All it does is make people upset, and more often than not, that person is yourself."

"That still doesn't answer my question."

"To put it simply, Pit...imagine if Viridi had killed Palutena. She's the most important person in the world to you, right? If you found out later that Viridi was being controlled when she killed her, would you forgive her, even if she didn't apologize?"

His eyes lowered to the surface of the water. "I suppose not," he admitted.

"It's the same way with me. My wife and I hadn't even been married for a year. She'd just given birth to one of our kids, and had another one on the way. She couldn't exactly work in her condition, so I had to take twice as many jobs to support my family. That put me away quite a bit. Imagine coming home, exhausted and tired, only to find it in shambles, the love of your life laying on the ground, a giant hole in her stomach from where some debris from another building crashed through your roof. Picture holding Palutena in your arms, one child dead in its crib and another impaled within her womb. When you have the image of her choking on her own blood as she looks into your eyes one last time and tells you she missed you, then come talk to me about forgiveness."

Try as he did, Adlar couldn't help himself. He was starting to cry as the memories welled up in his mind, but he quickly wiped them away before the angel could see. "I'm really sorry that happened to you," Pit muttered under his breath. "I know Lady Palutena is, too. It really wasn't her fault."

"I know," he replied. "That's the only reason when I saw her, I didn't put an arrow into her chest."

His words were ominous, and for a moment Pit opened his mouth to spit out some threat, but thinking better of it, he instead fell silent again. "So, why don't you dislike Viridi? Even if you didn't know the people personally, isn't thousands of lives taken still important?"

"She killed soldiers, kid. It's very different."

"Humans are humans."

"You don't seem to mind wiping out the underworld's armies. Those are human souls you're destroying."

"Yeah but…"

"My point is kid, she played by the rules of war. I don't pretend that war is some game. You're a soldier, too, Pit. You should know better than anybody, that when you gear up it's kill or be killed. Those men and women were ready to die. They lost, simple as that. They signed up for their death, my wife did not."

"Wow...that conversation turned dark." Both men turned to regard the new voice with a cry of surprise, only to find Phosphora with one arm covering her breasts as she stood, completely naked at the side of the springs. "Don't stop on my account boys," she giggled flirtatiously. "By all means, continue this adorable male bonding."

"We're not bonding!" Pit protested, before realizing how bad that sounded. "I mean, we're just talking!"

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Adlar growled. "Didn't Viridi tell you that I'm off limits, now?"

"She did, but what can I say, I was never much of a listener. Besides, I figured you may like some...softer...company for your bath." The ranger shuddered as she licked her lips hungrilly, her eyes focused intensely on him. "Sorry you had to wake up alone, handsome. I have to say you are possibly the best sex I've ever had."

"Wh-what?!" Pit cried, looking between the both of them. "You...and her…on Lady Palutena's shrine?!"

"It wasn't her shrine anymore," Phosphora winked.

"Don't talk like I was a willing participant," Adlar snapped. "You both tied me down. That was on you."

"Except you're the one who shot me up with all those pheromones. That's on you, handsome." Slipping through the water, she pressed against his arm, caressing his tattoo affectionately as she trailed through the thorns and hearts. "Besides, I promised you I'd teach you how to control it, didn't I?"

"No!" Pit suddenly roared, dashing towards them, sending the two apart with unbelievable strength. His blades manifested in his hands, he glared at them both. "I won't allow you to defile this sacred spring with sex!"

"Damn it, Phosphora, I told you to leave him alone!" Viridi protested as she suddenly appeared in the room. "Seriously! You're going to upset him and then he's going to leave!"

"Don't be silly, boss. He loves having me around."

"What the H-E-Double hockey sticks is going on here?" Palutena asked, appearing in a beam of light.

"Great, now see what you've done, Phosphora?" Viridi demanded. "You summoned Palutena. Now he's really going to be pissed."

"Lady Palutena! Thank goodness you're here! The human and Phosphora...they were going to...in the spring and...so I…"

"Easy, Pit. Lower your weapons," she instructed him calmly. When he did so, she turned on the other three. "And you! This hot spring is sacred! How can you possibly think it's okay to engage in debauchery in it?"

"What, it's perfectly natural?" Phosphora pointed out. "Don't tell me _you_ haven't had sex before."

"Lady Palutena is pure! She'd never…"

"My sexual history is none of your concern, Phosphora. I've never had sex in a sacred bath, and that's the issue here."

"What?! So you've had sex somewhere else?" Pit cried, his eyes going wide. "When? Where? With who?!"

"Aww, poor Pit," Viridi jeered. "It's like a little kid who's told that Santa Claus doesn't exist."

"Can you all just leave?" Adlar suddenly snapped, sending them all silent. "Pit and I were having a _private_ conversation, and enjoying our bath."

"I was trying to help, Adlar, I swear!" Viridi tried.

"It's fine, 'V', just pack up and go for now. I'll talk to you in the morning. You too, Phosphora. I'm not interested. I wasn't interested last time on the mountain either. If it means figuring out this whole tattoo thing myself, then fine."

Phosphora gave an irritated 'hmmph', before turning her nose up snidely and vanishing in a bolt of electricity that rocketed out of the cavern. "I'm really, really sorry, Adlar. I tried to tell her," Viridi bumbled. "Please, forgive me?"

"I already said 'it's fine," he pointed out, causing her to vanish as well. "There. They're gone. Anything else?" he asked, leveling his harsh gaze at Palutena.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you. Privately." Her eyes went to Pit who looked at her in shock.

"B-but, Lady Palutena…!"

Before he could respond though, his wings glowed a bright blue and he was hurled upward in a pillar of light, leaving the Goddess and the ranger alone. He crossed one leg politely over the other, trying to conceal himself from the Goddess out of respect.

"Listen, I'm worried we got off on the wrong foot," she began.

"Yeah, perhaps so. You weren't ever supposed to see those answers, and like I said, I didn't know what the numbers meant. They just gave me a scale of 1 to 5."

"Yes, I know. Not to mention, you were right. I heard what you were talking about with Pit, and I do owe you an apology. I can't bring back your loved ones, but I can do my best to make your life easier. I know Viridi put her divine seed in you. If you want, I can remove it. You'll be severed from her, and free to live your life like you want. You wouldn't have to serve her anymore. I can even conceal your presence from her so she can't keep following you around."

"Won't that put you at odds with her?"

"You let me worry about that. If it's what it takes to earn your forgiveness, it's a price I'll pay."

Adlar considered it for a moment before shaking his head. "No deal."

"Why not?!" Palutena gasped. "I'm giving you what you want! Why are you rejecting my help? Do you just want me to feel terrible about what I did?! More than I already do?"

"You're not able to bring back humans, I know...but what about Gods?"

Palutena bit her lip, turning to avert her eyes. "I suppose I could," she huffed. "Why?"

"Bring back Medusa."

"What?! Are you completely mental?" she snapped.

Suddenly, Adlar's tone grew ice cold. "Listen here, bitch. I don't give a damn about your feud with Medusa."

"What did you call me?!"

"I'm not done!" Palutena was taken aback by his harsh tone. Never before had a human spoken to her this way. "Everyone who has died because of you, my wife and kids included, are trapped in a horrible limbo. By killing all of the Underworld's Gods, you've ensured that no human will ever have a restful death. But you already know that, don't you?"

"It's a small price to pay."

"For what? Defeating your bitter rival? Getting to remain the high and mighty Queen of Skyworld?"

"You bastard! I saved the entire human race from Hades! If nto for me, every single one of you would be dead and gone forever!"

"But at least we would be at peace!" he snapped. "Do you really think our measly century of life is anything compared to the unrest we experience for all of eternity afterwards? I know the legends, Palutena. I know _you_ transformed Medusa into the monster she was."

"But she was…"

"Killing humans? We don't live forever, Palutena. We're not Gods. Literally _anything_ can kill us. Are you going to burn down all the trees to stop them from falling on us? Maybe you should kill every living creature on the planet since they can have diseases. Actually, you know what the biggest threat to a human is? Another human. So why don't you wipe out every single last one of us so that way no more of us will die."

"I am doing my best to protect you!"

"Your best isn't good enough," Adlar argued, standing up. "Humans deserve eternal rest after death! Because of you, the Underworld seems like a playground by comparison!"

"Medusa is a monster!"

"She's a monster because you turned her into one!"

"You stupid, filthy, pig-headed man! Don't you understand all that I've done for the human race? I've sacrificed my entire existence to protecting them!"

"The only person you're protecting is yourself! You don't want to have to share Skyworld and that's the reason why you're throwing such a hissy fit instead of doing what you should have done forever ago, and just bring back Medusa and let her rule the Underworld!"

There was a loud, reverberating, clap in the air as pain lanced through Adlar's cheek. Palutena stood there, her face twisted in rage and her hand raised in preparation for another slap.

"Just as I thought. You don't care about humans. You just want us around to worship you, but when we can't do that, you don't give a damn what happens to us."

Suddenly, she reached out and grabbed him tightly. He flinched, fearing he'd have to defend himself, but instead, she just pressed herself against him and shoved her lips roughly onto his.

A gasp of surprise escaped his lips, allowing her to slip her tongue between them to tangle with his own. He sighed, wrapping his arms around the Goddess and drawing her closer to him. As she melted into his arms, he cupped her cheek in his hand to wipe away the single tear that had fallen.

Up in Skyworld, Viridi spit her hot cider as she watched the events unfold. "What the fuck?!" she cried. "They were just fighting! Why did he…?" Her words trailed off, visibly pained by what she saw.

"We should go down there," Phosphora suggested. "You did want him to make that place into an altar, right? We could interrupt their passion fest by having a 'ceremony' of our own again."

"No...something's wrong. I can feel it. I don't know what's the matter, but something is definitely wrong here."

"So...what? We just watch Palutena defile our paladin?"

" _My_ paladin," Viridi corrected.

"Fine, you're just going to let her defile _your_ paladin?"

The nature goddess frowned, trying to come up with an idea of what to do. "Wait...wait! I got it!"

"You do?"

"Yep. Watch this!"

* * *

Adlar sighed softly as the two parted for a moment, still holding on to one another as if they had long been lovers. "L-lady Palutena?!" Pit gasped as he suddenly found himself cast back to the earth. "Wh-what are you…?"

The Goddess let out a flustered gasp, spinning around to come face to face with her heartbroken angel. "P-pit! It's not what it looks like! I swear, we were just…"

Foreseeing where this was going, Adlar quickly moved to scoop up his clothes. "I should go."

"No, wait!" Palutena cried before catching herself and looking between Pit and the human.

"Forget it," Pit snapped. "You can let him command your holy army from now on."

"Pit, please. It's not like that!"

"I'll say," Adlar huffed. "She's the one who kissed me. I've no interest in being her servant."

"How dare you?!" Pit growled. "Lady Palutena is giving her heart to you and you're just going to stomp on it?"

"Make up your damned mind, angel. Do you want me with your Goddess or do you want me to leave her alone? I'm trying to do right by my people."

"I am _not_ your people!" he protested.

"You're right, you're not! You angels and Gods and everything else don't have a clue what it means to be human!"

"You don't have a clue what it means to be a Goddess," Pit objected, just as the ranger finished slipping on his armor. "How dare you accuse Lady Palutena of anything other than being a Goddess? She has done more for humanity than you could ever hope to accomplish in a million years!"

Ignoring the angel, the paladin walked towards the entrance of the cave before turning back to the silent Goddess, whose cheeks burned a bright pink. "If you really meant what you said about caring for humans, you'll resurrect Medusa. I don't care what you have to do to make peace with her, you do it and you let those souls get their eternal rest. If not...well then I'll just have to do it myself."

"Over my dead body!" Pit roared, rushing towards him weapons drawn.

"Pit, don't!" Palutena cried, but it was too late. Adlar grabbed him by his cloak and hurled him out of the cave, causing him to begin plummeting to the ground below. "Pit, no!" Palutena rushed to the side, watching as he fell the long way down towards the pool of water. Holding out her hand, his wings ignited in divine light just in time to slow him before he hit the water with a painful 'slap'. Thankfully, he didn't die from the fall. "I can't believe you," she shouted at Adlar. "You could have killed him!"

"He would have killed me," Adlar stated coldly. "Now I won't say it again. Leave. Me. Alone."

With that, he slipped out of the cave, leaving the stunned Palutena in tears.

* * *

Viridi shared a high five with Phosphora as she watched him leave. "Thank goodness. I was really worried that that would have gone bad."

"You should bring him here. Give him the talk about not fraternizing with the enemy."

"All you do is fraternize with the enemy!" Viridi countered. "No, we should leave him alone. We're this close to losing him and I don't want that, do you?"

"Well, no...but still. We can't just leave him alone, can we?"

The small Goddess sighed, scratching the back of her head in thought. "No, I guess not. I'll go talk to him. _You_ stay here. We don't need your grinding up on him while I'm trying to have a serious conversation with my paladin."

"Fine, fine. But you better not try to move in on my dibs."

"Seriously? Are you still on about that?"

"What? I called dibs! That's how it works!"

Viridi waved off her underling's words as she vanished from Skyworld, only to appear beside Adlar who was now walking towards...somewhere. "Hey there," she greeted politely.

"Go away."

"I'm not here to start an argument or anything, honest. I'm just wanting to keep you company."

"I imagine you were the ones who sent that angel down in the middle of the make out session with Palutena?"

Viridi timidly hovered beside him. "Yes. We weren't sure how to get you to stop, so we figured that'd serve as a good distraction as any."

"Why? Jealous?"

"Of her?! Never!" she huffed, turning up her nose. "Just because she's more venerated and pretty and has beautiful hair and is tall and…" Realizing that she was carrying on, she fell silent, moving to cut off her paladin before leaning against her staff. "Look, I know it doesn't make much sense, but just...Palutena gets _everything_. She comes back after being gone for twenty five years and people are cheering in the streets! They throw parties and have parades, even in the middle of an underworld attack. Everyone thinks she's this innocent, perfect, pure-hearted princess, when the truth is, she's just as much of a bitch as any other God or Goddess. I don't want her to get you, too. Okay?"

Adlar gave a snort of derision. "The day Palutena gets me would be the day the stars fall from the sky. I'm well aware that she's not perfect, Viridi. I'm _painfully_ aware. No one is perfect."

"Excuse me? I am totally perfect!"

A soft smile crossed his lips, causing Viridi to shudder. She hadn't seen him smile before. It was kind of concerning when she thought about it. As he stepped towards her, she didn't move, curious as to what he'd do. Reaching out, he put his hand on her head, ruffling her hair as if she were a child.

Immediately, she went to rebuke him, but then, realized that she actually enjoyed the affection he was showing her. As a Goddess, she'd never had much in the way of family, save Phosphora, Auron, and Cragalanche...but this was different. She didn't have to create this one. "Thank you."

The words completely caught her off guard. It was odd enough that she was allowing the head pat, but his thanks had come from seemingly nowhere. "For what?"

"You came to try to pull away Phosphora, right? That was before Palutena showed up, so you can't even argue jealousy. It means you listened to what I had to say and you were trying your hardest to do as I asked."

"Well...if I didn't, there'd be no one to build my temples and shrines so…"

"I don't buy it."

She looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"I don't think you're doing it just for the shrines. I think you're that shallow. Tell me the truth, Viridi. You honestly just like having me around, don't you?" Her cheeks burned a bright pink as she quickly pulled from his hand.

"Hardly! I still hate humans. You're all nothing but selfish, egotistical, walking bags of destruction wrapped in flesh. You just spit in the face of nature and don't even care. Even into the wind! Who spits into the wind?"

Still the smile never left his face. Leaning towards her, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, causing her to blush even more. "Where to next, Lady Viridi?" he asked, using the honorific he'd picked up from Pit.

"Umm...to th-the S-south East. There's the spot of one of my R-reset B-bombs, where it made impact. If you could put a shrine th-there, that'd be nice. P-please."

Viridi had no idea why she was so timid around this human. Normally, she was a very outspoken individual, so the fact that he could not only seemingly shut her down, but make her turn into a stuttering mess was alien to her.

Nodding, the paladin went to leave. Viridi quickly turned him back towards her, throwing her arms around his neck and placing a loving kiss against his lips. As he felt her press against him, he instinctively held her in his arms, returning the gesture just as he nearly had with Palutena. "I love you," she whispered into his ear.

"What?" he gasped, releasing her suddenly in shock.

"N-nothing!" she quickly blurted before vanishing to return to Skyworld where a smug Phosphora was waiting for her.

Adlar's eyes were the size of saucers, and for a moment, he didn't say anything. After another few seconds, he turned to continue his task, trying to forget what he'd just heard the Goddess say to him.

* * *

"M-mistress, Mistress! Your plan is working! They're all falling for the human!" the Goddess' minion clapped excitedly. "And Palutena is even considering resurrecting Medusa, and she _still_ doesn't realize what is going on! How amazing is this?"

The small cherub-like creature gave a happy purr as the woman's long manicured nail scratched affectionately beneath its chin. "It is amazing indeed. I'm glad we learned of Viridi's little plan. It provided us with the perfect opportunity. It won't be long until I'm the one who controls all of Skyworld."

"But Mistress...how will you do that? I mean, Palutena and Viridi are gaga over the human, but they still would never surrender their portions of the Skyworld!"

"Give it time, my pet. Once his intoxicating charms take full hold over their minds, he'll control them completely. Then, it will be but a simple matter to control him. People will do just about anything for love. It won't be long until they're eating out of the palm of his hand, and when they are, it'll be too late for them to realize that he's on my leash." Her pink lips curled into a mischievous grin as she tucked a strand of long beautiful blonde hair behind her ear. "It won't be long. I'll finally unify the Gods under one perfect Queen. Then, after that, we'll take over the human race like we deserve to do."

To Be Continued...


	4. Chapter 4

Nature's Judgment Ch. 4

"Something is wrong, Pit. Something is very wrong," Palutena murmured as she paced back and forth in her fortress. Off to the side, the angel, clad in white, had his arms crossed over his chest and nose turned up into the air. Pausing where she was, the goddess looked to him. "Pit, please say something."

"What do you want me to say, Lady Palutena? I saw you making out with a mortal! Not even just a mortal, but a blasphemous, murderous, paladin of one of our biggest enemies!"

"I told you, it's not what it looked like!"

"It _looked_ like you were shoving your tongue in his mouth!"

"Well, I mean…" Her cheeks flared up as she recalled the kiss before she stomped her foot firmly. "Enough! Pit, you are under _my_ command and you do what I tell you to. I don't have to explain anything to you."

With that, Pit immediately went back to giving her the silent treatment. There was little point in arguing, he knew. Palutena always got what she wanted, and he was never strong enough to refuse her. Still, he had to at least keep up appearances to show his disdain for her actions.

"Maybe I'll just get Pitoo to help me with my problem instead," she hummed, shooting him a sly glance from the corner of her eye.

"What?!" Pit cried, snapping out of his silent treatment. "Aww, c'mon! I hate that guy!"

"Gotcha," she taunted.

Pit groaned, but the moment his Goddess flashed him that radiant smile of hers, he knew the argument was over. "All right. So what's the issue? So you kissed a mortal. It's not like it will happen again, right? I mean, maybe you just got caught up in the moment and…"

"No, it was more than that," she sighed. "I mean...he was right about a lot of things."

"What? How can you say that?"

"Well, I was the one who turned Medusa into a monster. We had a feud, but there was more to it than that."

"I remember!" Pit cried. "She imprisoned me in the Underworld until you freed me!"

"Right. Without someone controlling the underworld though, human souls are trapped in limbo. I don't want to do it, but if the only way for me to get redemption is to restore her, then I don't have a choice. We'll just have to keep fighting a constant war and leave it at that."

"No! Lady Palutena, there must be another way!"

Cradling her chin in thought, the long-haired Goddess contemplated her options.

Pit suddenly snapped his fingers as if he'd realized something. "Oh! I get it now! You kissed him because if he fell in love with you then he'd have to forgive you! Isn't that it, Lady Palutena?"

The emotions that flowed across her face went from shock, to anger, and finally to understanding. Despite how shallow of an accusation her general had just made about her intentions, perhaps he was on the right track.

"Pit, you're an absolute genius." Walking to him, she placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before strutting towards her chambers with a cheerful hum.

* * *

"Ho...ly...shit."

Adlar's eyes were wide as he stared up at the massive ball of thorns, trees, and vines that were the remnants of the reset bomb. "Pretty impressive, huh?"

The ranger gave a start. "Damn it, 'V', stop popping up on me like that!"

The Goddess of Nature smirked. "You're _supposed_ to be prepared for anything, my paladin."

Adlar rolled his eyes. "I can't be prepared for everything all the time, you know. I'm only human."

"For now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Giving a playful snicker, Viridi just placed her hands behind her back. "Don't worry about it. What's all of this 'V' stuff, anyway? Are you finally starting to come around?"

"Hardly! Your name is just such a mouthful. It's shorter just to call you 'V'."

The smile didn't fade from her face at all. "Oh sure. I noticed you call Palutena by her full name. Phosphora too."

"Maybe because they both start with 'P'."

"Or maybe because you _like_ me," she teased.

Putting her into a playful headlock, Adlar dragged his knuckles back and forth across her scalp in a noogie.

"H-hey! Stop! You're messing up my hair," she giggled, before pulling away from him.

The two shared a smile before he seemed to remember something. The smile slowly faded from his features as he looked up at the reset bomb's massive impact. _I love you_. Viridi's words still echoed fresh in his mind.

"I'm really sorry," she suddenly murmured.

"Sorry? For what?"

Her finger raised to point towards the ball. "There must have been thousands of humans who died in that reset bomb. Maybe even hundreds of thousands. Friends of yours, possible."

"I'm not upset."

"You seem upset."

"Well, I'm not."

There was a pause between the two. "I don't believe you," she said.

"Believe me or not, it doesn't change that it's true. Do I really strike you as the sort of person who would keep my complaints quiet?"

"I suppose not...Either way, I'll let you get back to your work. Sorry to disturb you." With that, she vanished away, leaving him standing alone at the base of the massive crater.

* * *

As Viridi appeared in her own part of Skyworld, she sighed, pulling her hair out of a ponytail and shaking it free. "What the hell was that?!" Her general demanded. "You just struck out!"

"Hey! Just because he's a hunk, doesn't mean he's a hunk of meat. If we (and by we, I mean you) keep flinging ourselves at him, he's going to leave, then we're back to square one."

"And if we don't fling ourselves at him, he's not going to be interested!"

"Who cares?"

" _Who cares?_ I care! You care! Don't pretend like you didn't love his 'offering' at the shrine."

Viridi turned on her general, hands on her hips. "Well maybe I don't want that! Maybe I want him to actually do his job instead of blessing _nature_ rather than associating his good work with lust and sex!"

Phosphora crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at her boss. "You're trying to override my dibs, aren't you?"

"Gods! You don't have dibs! That's not a thing! You can't have dibs on someone!"

"Says you! You're just mad you didn't call dibs first."

"There. Are. No. Dibs!"

The lightning spirit crackled with irritation. "I'm going to talk to him."

"No, you're not! He wants to be left alone!"

Looking over Viridi's shoulder, she suddenly smirked. The goddess of nature shuddered from the look and cautioned a glance behind her. Sure enough, Palutena was standing before her paladin again.

"Damn it, again?! All right, let's send Pit in and…" Her hands glowed with power before fizzling out. "What the…?" ONce more, she tried to summon forth the angel, but nothing happened.

"Oh God...she didn't!" Phosphora gasped.

"N-no! I'm sure that she would never...c'mon you stupid angel! Get in there!"

"Screw the angel. I'm going in!" her general stated. Phosphora crackled with energy and as she tried to strike down to the mortal world, there was a reverberation that sent her blasting back into Skyworld before landing painfully on her back. "How is she doing that? She blocked me from going too!"

Feeling completely helpless, the Goddess of Nature had no choice but to watch as her rival confronted her paladin.

* * *

Adlar clambered through the thorns, careful to keep from tearing his clothes on the sharp points. While he didn't mind having Viridi around, he wasn't too saddened at the thought of being alone either.

As soon as he emerged in the center though, he stopped. Standing in the large flat platform was the green-haired goddess that he held such contempt for. "Palutena," he noted with a breath. "Can't keep away from me, I see."

He strode forward with confidence. Somehow, he didn't feel like he had to worry about the angel again. Not that he held illwill against Pit, but he also had no sympathy for the obsessive angel.

"I'm glad you're here," she breathed. "I wanted to continue our discussion."

"Shame. I'm just here to do my job."

"Even paladins need a break."

"I can listen while I work." Reaching the center, he knelt down, raising his pick to chisel a hole in the wood to grow the divine seed into another shrine.

Before he could swing it though, Palutena's hand gently held his wrist to stop him. Her touch was soft and gentle, much to his surprise. When he looked up at her, he was shocked by the beautiful gleam of her eyes.

"You really don't have to do this," she whispered. "Please, let me help you. Humans deserve to be free. I don't use them as my servants for that very reason."

"You ever think maybe I _want_ to do this?"

Sinking to her knees beside him, she wrapped both of her hands around his and drew it to her chest. Their eyes remained locked on one another's as she slowly leaned closer. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about our kiss."

"Oh really?"

She nodded. "The way you held me in your arms…"

"What about it?"

"I loved it. I want you to hold me like that again...please?"

With a slight movement, his fingers uncurled from the tool and it clattered to the ground. Palutena straddled his hips, pressing herself against him. She buried her face into his neck as she clung to him, placing gentle kisses on his throat.

Holding her there, he sighed softly. "This doesn't change anything. You still need to resurrect Medusa."

"I can't do that," she whispered. "You don't understand."

"Make me understand. If you love humanity, why do you make them suffer an eternity of misery?"

She paused for a moment before kissing his lips again. For a moment, they just shared in the kiss before they fell together to the ground, legs tangled. Cuddling against him, the normally chaste Goddess of Light gave a heartfelt sigh. "Medusa is evil. Yes, I turned her into a monster...but I did it by making her look on the outside like she did on the inside. Her coming back won't end purgatory, it'll start hell."

"My wife and children need peace."

"I know."

"Then give it to them. There's only one way."

Palutena shook her head. "Bringing back Medusa won't help anyone."

For a long while Adlar didn't say anything. Palutena pushed herself up for a moment and without a word, pulled her dress off of her body. The ranger was completely taken aback by her beauty. Never before had he ever seen a form so pure.

"What are you doing?" he breathed.

"I know this isn't much, but I wish for you to take me. If this redeems me in your eyes, even just a little, then I want it. Please?"

The ranger's eyes shined with a ferocity that Palutena hadn't seen in them before. Without a word, he shoved her down on to her back. The roughness had taken her by surprise. Would it all be like this?

The Goddess of Light felt fear for the first time. She'd expected him to deny her, to possibly share innocent kisses, only for him to back away, but now she couldn't be certain. Perhaps she'd overestimated this being's honor.

Climbing over her body, he draped himself over her. His hands rested on either side of her head, with his eyes piercing straight through hers into her very soul. As he leaned closer, she began to tremble beneath him. " _Palutena, get a grip on yourself! If this is what must be done, it must be done! You mustn't allow Medusa to return to the world. You can't! For humanity, you must do this!"_ she thought.

Despite her mental peptalk, however, the closer he came, the more his musk and sweat wafted into her nostrils. Her heart was pounding roughly in her chest. Fear, excitement, and anxiousness blended within her in equal parts as his lips sought out her neck.

Absent mindedly, her hands reached to his back, gently trailing along his spine as his long unkempt hair tickled her chin and throat. "You're scared," he whispered in her ear. "I can sense your fear, Lady Palutena. Do you truly fear a human so greatly?"

When he started to move as if to leave, she gripped his back tightly. The thought of being left like this sent an even larger wave of fear into her heart that she hadn't anticipated being there. Did she truly want this? Not even she knew.

"What did you do to Pit?" he finally asked. "Right about now, Viridi would have sent him to break this up."

"He's...erm...grounded."

"Meaning…?"

"I've locked him in Skyworld. Viridi, too. And Phosphora. No one will interrupt us now. Please, I know this is what you want. Just do what you must so that you can finally forgive me."

"I will never forgive you, Palutena."

Tears began to stream down her pale cheeks to fall to the wooden ground on which they lay. Her chest heaved and she could feel a sob coming to her throat, but she quickly choked on it to keep him from hearing it.

This time when he stood, she released him. "Get up," he instructed sternly. "Put your clothes back on. Go back to Skyworld. I'm through with your games. I had respect for you Palutena, but this is a new low, even for you."

"Wh-what do you mean?" she whimpered.

"Did you truly think me so shallow a man? You think that you could come here with your beauty and grace, and seduce me to your will as if I were some weak-willed puppet?" he growled. "How could you think that of me? I've half a mind to put an arrow in you for that."

"And I'd deserve it, too."

"Enough! Stop talking like that!"

"Like what?"

"Like I'm the only person who matters in the world! Why do you care what I think? I'm only one human! So what if I don't like you! You have millions of followers all over the world who bend down and kiss the feet of your statue. There are entire cities built in your name! I refuse to believe that you are so concerned about my opinion of you. It's impossible."

Palutena was shaken to the core by his words. He was right. Since when had a single mortal bothered her so much that she'd be willing to surrender her very purity in order to make him happy. "I...I don't know why…"

"Why doesn't matter, because it just isn't true. I refuse to believe that you care so much about me, which means that you're doing this because you truly hate Medusa that much. Well fine. Don't bring back Medusa. Ignore me, because it won't make a damned difference anyway."

"But...that's not…!"

Adlar turned, this time nocking his bow and training his arrow straight at her chest. "Do not lie to me, Palutena. I've never killed a God before, and I doubt that I could with one arrow, but it will hurt."

"Hey, asshole! Hands off the Goddess!" a voice called, just as knife came spinning forward and sliced the arrow in two. The angel slammed down hard between the two of them, before turning and kicking Adlar hard enough to send him flying back towards the edge of the platform.

The ranger coughed, gaining back his breath before giving a growl. He'd had enough of this brat. As he climbed back to his feet, his eyes fell on his black robes and wings. "Going through a phase, I see?"

"Pitoo…" Palutena murmured in awe. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving you, obviously. Duh."

"So much for being grounded, huh Palutena?" Adlar asked.

"Shut up! Don't talk to her."

An arrow of energy blasted past Adlar as he quickly tumbled out of the way. Drawing his axes, he gave a growl. "I nearly killed you once kid, don't make me do it again."

"I've never met you in my life."

The ranger rushed him, his axes flying in tight arcs that the angel narrowly avoided. "The denial card, really?"

"You still haven't figured it out then? I'm the original angel, asshole," he smirked, deflecting the paladin's blows on his blades.

The two locked blades, shaking from the physical strength required to keep each other at bay. "So you're not Pit, then. I can tell now. You're stronger than he is."

"And don't you forget it!" The angel slammed his head hard against Adlar's, sending him stumbling back. Rushing forward, he made a large slash diagonally up his torso that caused a spray of crimson to emerge from the wound.

Adlar recovered, putting his hand to the gash on his chest and looking at the angel in shock. "Pitoo, that's enough!" Palutena cried. "Don't hurt him!"

"This bastard has it coming! Don't you remember? If Pit dies, I die too! I'm not going to let this jerk get away with nearly killing me."

Adlar's hand began to tingle with warmth as ethereal thorns entwined his wrist. "Please, Pitoo, leave him alone!"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Hey, don't get distracted in the middle of a fight!" Raising his hand, Adlar fired the whirling pink tornado straight into Dark Pit's chest, sending him hurtling off the edge of the platform.

"Damn it!" he cried, grabbing onto the ledge just before he was about to fall.

Adlar's foot came down hard on his hand, causing him to scream. Leveling his palm at his foe, the ranger began to charge up the final blow to end his foe's life. "I've had enough of angels."

"Wait, don't!" Palutena rushed forward, diving between Adlar and Dark Pit, just as he fired. As the heart-shaped blast struck her hard in the chest, she gave a gasp of shock and began to fall.

"No! Damn it, Palutena!" Adlar cried as she fell from the edge down towards the ground below. Without a thought, the ranger dove after her, falling straight like an arrow and wrapping an arm around her waist. Grasping his axe, he slammed it hard into a nearby root, grunting with effort as it began to slow his descent.

The force tore the weapon from his grip, and they began to hurtle downward again, until a platform rose quickly up to meet them. Rolling his body, Adlar cushioned the impact for her, but felt a horrible pain as his spine cracked beneath him.

"Adlar? Adlar, speak to me!" Palutena cried.

"Are...you...okay?" he wheezed, trying to regain his strength.

"I'm fine. But you need to rest if you don't you're going to…"

Seeing a gleam just above her, Adlar quickly shoved the Goddess of Light aside, just as the axe he'd use to slow their fall and save their life fell, sinking into his chest with a sickening thud.

He shuddered, and finally fell still. "No! Damn it, no!" Palutena again felt hot tears in her eyes as she pulled the axe away and threw it from her. "Adlar, just hold on. It's going to be okay. I'm going to fix this."

His eyes were blank and dazed. The life in them was fading quickly. Palutena bit her lip as hard as she could, drawing forth her divine blood. Dipping her fingers into it, she let it drip into his cuts, causing them to slowly heal.

He, however, did not react in the slightest. "Please. Please, don't let this be the end," she begged to no one in particular. Even with his wounds healed, she couldn't help him. Palutena couldn't hold back anymore. Now she was sobbing uncontrollably as her tears fell.

She threw herself over him, holding him in her arms as if he were her dearest friend. "Palutena, are you okay?" Dark Pit asked as he landed beside her. "Did he hurt you?"

With rage in her eyes, she glared at him. "This is your fault! You killed him!" she screamed.

"Whoa, whoa. What the hell are you going on about? He was _attacking_ you!"

"No, he wasn't! He'd never have…" her words trailed off as she hiccuped on her tears. "Damn it, you shouldn't have stepped in. I was so close."

"Close? Close to getting an arrow in you, maybe."

"He wouldn't have hurt me. I know he loves me! And I love him, too!"

"What?! That's crazy talk! He's a mortal! He's _human_!"

Palutena's eyes widened. "That's...that's it! I just have to make him immortal!"

"Palutena, no! Don't do it!"

"I have to! It's the only way to save him." Before he could argue with her again, she roughly pressed her lips against Adlar's, kissing him deeply. Her blood trickled into his mouth as she gently stroked his cheek, urging him to live.

As the drops of red flowed into his mouth and down his throat, life seemed to surge through his being. His spine began to mend and his fingers twitched. When a soft groan escaped his throat, joy filled Palutena's heart, but she refused to let go of him.

He gave a muffled cry of surprise as he realized what was happening, trying to push her away, but she refused to let go of him. She held him there in her arms until his struggles died down once more.

This time, when his lips parted, her tongue eagerly met his, smearing her divine blood onto it so that he could taste of her essence. Even as Dark Pit tried to pull them apart, Palutena raised her hand and transported him away into some other location far from them.

"I'm so sorry, my darling," she whimpered when she pulled from him. "I'm so sorry he hurt you. I'll never let anyone hurt you again."

"D-darling?" he coughed in shock. "What are you…?"

"Hush now, my love. Rest. I'm right here for you. I'll hold you in my arms forever if I must."

Despite that he wanted to argue the point further, Adlar couldn't find the energy. He surrendered himself to the beautiful goddess, nuzzling into her chest as she cradled him.

* * *

The doors to Skyworld burst forth as Viridi stormed through them, teeth grinding in absolute fury. Phosphora swept behind her, cheering her on with a big smile on her face.

"Phosphora! Gather the forces, we're going to war!"

"Yes! Finally! Let's teach that bitch what for!"

"You're going to call out all the stops, understand? Cragolanche, Aurelon, Lightning Chariot, I don't care who or how, but you're getting _everyone_ , do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

As she stopped in front of Palutena's palace, the centurions were already amassing to defend the keep. Only then did Phosphora hesitate.

"Wait a moment. We've tried this once before and our forces were torn to shreds. How do you know that we'll win this time?"

Viridi wheeled on her general, grabbing her by her scarf and pulling her down to eye level. Fire burned in her eyes in a way that Phosphora had never seen before. "Because this time, Palutena isn't going to have her greatest weapon. She made one vital mistake, she burned the bridge that's supported her her entire life."

"What's that?"

The scarf trailed through the goddess' fingers as she turned back towards the palace doors. Holding out her hands, her minions rushed forth in a bloody battle that kept the centurions distracted. "This time, Pit will be on our side."

Phosphora watched as Viridi stormed forward across the castle's bridge, swatting centurions away with her vines as if they were dolls. A shudder ran down her spine, and it was then the lightning spirit decided that perhaps it were best if she were to revoke the dibs she'd set.

When Viridi reached the door she raised one tiny foot and with a single furious kick, sent them off their hinges and crashing to the ground. "PIT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE, NOW!"

A door opened revealing the angel rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Why are you being so loud, Viridi? I'm trying to take a nap and...wait. How did you get in...here?" His eyes went past her to the large amount of carnage outside.

Realizing what had happened, he rushed to grab his weaponry but before he could get there, a large wall of vines erupted between them and slung him into the far wall. He crumpled to the ground in a heap, and soon Viridi loomed over him.

"Now you listen to me, you spineless worm! Right now your Goddess is defiling _my_ paladin and I won't stand for it! You're going to help me defeat her, got it?"

"Fight Lady Palutena? Never!"

"This is just like the Chaoskin, Pit. That's not the real Palutena!"

"Liar."

"I didn't want to have to do this to you, Pit. But you leave me no choice." Opening a window to the mortal world, Viridi showed Pit the scene that was unfolding between Palutena and Adlar. Her nude body was pressed against his, their lips locked in a loving kiss as she caressed his chest.

The goddess of nature could see the angel's heart shattering into a million pieces. "But...Lady Palutena…" he murmured, trying to keep himself from crying. "I…"

"We can work together, Pit. This can be beneficial to both of us."

"What do you care?" he sniffed. "We all know you hate humans. This is all your fault anyway!"

"Not _this_ human," she stated flatly. "This human is special to me, and I swear to you Pit, if you don't help me snap Palutena out of this, then I'll have no choice but to kill her. You want your goddess back, don't you? Well, I want my paladin back. If we work together, we both get what we want."

The angel wiped a tear from his eye before nodding. "Fine. I'll help you. No one else has to die." Inside though, Pit knew that was a lie. He knew there was only one way to free his goddess from the mortal's grip. He'd have to kill a human, for the first time in his life. He didn't have a choice any more.

* * *

"No, no, no!"

"Milady, what's wrong? This is exactly what you wanted, isn't it?"

There was a loud slap as the goddess backhanded her assistant. "Of course, not! The entire point was to _prevent_ further war, not cause more of it! Damn it, this is like Troy all over again!" Standing up, the beautiful blonde goddess, shook out her gorgeous hair and strut forward from her throne.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to stop this madness before it gets out of hand."

"But if you do that, you'll reveal your plans! Then you won't ever be able to take over."

"That's not what I meant. Ares!" she screeched. Another god, this one buff and in armor came walking in.

"What is it, my wife?"

She pointed a long finger at the scene unfolding. "A war is brewing. A war that shouldn't be happening. I want you to stop it, now!"

"Stop it? Honeybear, you know I…"

"Don't you 'honeybear' me! I want this war stopped and I want it stopped _now_!" With one final stomp of her foot, the God of war cringed. "Amass your armies, and get ready to attack both sides. Once they're distracted, pull back, and they'll forget all about this little feud."

He gave a final sigh. "As you wish, my love."

To be continued...


	5. Chapter 5

Nature's Judgment Ch. 5

Adlar gave another muffled groan into Palutena's chest as her hand explored his body. It was all gone now. Every thought she had, every plan she'd made to earn his forgiveness, it was replaced now by a single word. _More_.

She hungered for him and desired his touch, more than she'd desired anything in her entire life. When he'd struck her in the chest, she thought it would cause her pain. Instead, it filled her with such a state of bliss, that she hadn't noticed they were falling until he'd already hit the ground.

Things were different now though. She'd given him her essence. Not enough to truly make him a God, but enough to save his life, and prevent him from having to worry about losing it again. "You're mine," she whispered to him. "You're my lovely little human."

He protested, but with her breast pressed forcibly against his mouth, he couldn't vocalize anything. Palutena swore then that shed never release him. Humans may deserve to be free, but didn't she deserve this herself? She'd done so much for humanity over her long lifespan. So what if she kept one for herself. One who, by his own admission, had no one who would miss him.

A feverish lust burned inside of her. How desperately she wanted his body to worship hers. "Take me. Please, take me now! I need your body, Adlar. Give me your seed and bless me with your child."

Her legs wrapped around his as she pinned him down, grinding her now damp pussy against his crotch. Cursed fabric! The clothing between them both served as a frustrating barrier that she couldn't be bothered to remove.

"F-fuck," she cried, fondling her own chest, and giving horny gasps of pleasure.

"That's enough!" A voice cried behind her. Palutena ran rigid. That was impossible! She'd locked them up, she knew it. Sure enough, when she turned, she saw not only Viridi, but her forces and Pit as well. "Palutena, get your slutty hands and everything else off of my paladin!"

"Go home, Viridi," she growled. "I've freed him from your deception. He's no slave to you anymore. Now, he and I are unified." Her eyes moved past her rival to the angel. "And you, Pit. Traitorous scum. You call yourself my loyal servant, and yet you stand with Viridi?"

"Lady Palutena, you need to snap out of it! This isn't you! He's _just_ a human. You don't need to...gak...ach…" His words caught in his throat at Palutena raised her hand. The raw essence he was made of began to constrict around his neck, strangling him slowly.

"Watch your tongue, centurion. The man you speak of is not only my consort, but your new commander. If you insult him again, I will destroy you once and for all."

Snapping back to his senses, Adlar quickly shoved Palutena from him, much to her shock. "Viridi, she took a full charged blast from the pheromone shot! You have to take the power away."

"Don't worry, Adlar. I'll save you," the nature Goddess swore to him.

"Adlar? What does she mean 'save you'?" Palutena demanded. "I'm the one who saved you from her!"

"This isn't how you really feel," he tried to tell her. "You got hit by the Viridi palm. It's the same thing that happened to them at the last altar and…"

Tears flooded the Goddess of Light's eyes as she began to sob loudly. "Why won't you let me love you? Can't you see I just want to make you happy? I'm trying so hard. I do love you, Adlar. I promise."

"He _is_ happy," Viridi countered, stepping between the two. "He's happy with me, so just step off Palutena! Find your own damned paladin or cleric or whatever." For a moment, she peered at the hunter over her shoulder. "I mean, you are happy, right? Like, if you wanted to leave, you'd say so."

"He has said so!" the green haired goddess argued, moving to his side and grabbing his arm in a tight embrace. "He begged me to take him away from you, right Adlar?"

Before he could respond, the smaller goddess grabbed his other arm pulling back. "Yeah, right! He said he liked talking to me, so why would he want to leave? If anything, you're the one he hates. He says so all the time."

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

The two began to tug in either direction as Adlar continued to voice his protest for the treatment. Seeing his opening, Pit raced forward drawing his blade before phosphora could even register his intentions. "That's it, you're dead human. Release Lady Palutena from your control now!"

Planting his feet, Adlar quickly shoved Viridi away just as Pit's weapon sliced clean through the arm that Palutena was holding. For a moment, there was silence in the universe as Adlar's crimson blood spurted out wildly all over the goddess' white robes.

Palutena stood there in horror, clutching the dismembered limb. Adlar spun, falling backwards into Viridi's arms. "Adlar! Adlar," she cried. He didn't give a response. His body had gone into shock from the injury. Even her voice sounded like it was coming from far away.

There was a bright blue streak as the lightning spirit charged at the angel. Pit didn't even have time to react as she tackled him so hard, his weapons went scattering away. After slamming him against one of the walls of the reset bomb, a massive thorn lanced through his shoulder.

"You bastard!" she screamed, striking him over and over again with electrically charged rabbit punches to his gut. "You were supposed to help us! You could have killed him!"

"Phosphora, enough!" Viridi ordered, causing her to drop the angel.

"Enough?! Are you kidding me? He just sliced off his damn arm! I think we should make fair fair and tear off one of his wings, just for good measure!"

"He needs help," Viridi whispered. "Please. Leave Pit alone and come help him. Cauterize his wound before he bleeds out."

"That's it Vi! Maybe we can reattach his arm and…" Phosphora turned towards Palutena, only to find her and arm gone. When she wheeled back on the angel, he too had disappeared. "Son of a bitch!" she roared.

"Phosphora!"

"Sorry. I'm coming."

The light of consciousness began to flow in Adlar's gaze as the goddess and her general loomed over him. "Adlar, can you hear me?" Viridi asked. "You're going to be okay. The seed I planted in you is working to slow your bleeding, but we have to cauterize it. Otherwise, you'll bleed out."

"This is going to hurt. Alot. I'm really sorry Adlar," Phosphora murmured before a bolt of lightning arced from her fingertips. With a loud crack, it burnt his exposed stub to a scabby crisp.

He hissed in pain, turning away from the source, but soon his shoulder was no longer bleeding from the burns. Viridi looped his good arm around her shoulder, helping him to stand. "Let's go back to Skyworld. We can try to help him there."

With that, the two vanished alongside their paladin to return to their home far above the mortal realm.

* * *

Phosphora wrinkled her brow as she stared at the unconscious paladin. He was presently submerged in a clear glass tank with a strange pinkish fluid bubbling around him. Already brownish tendrils had sprouted from his stump like roots that were winding together.

"Viridi, I've seen you make some pretty insane things before. Reset bombs, Buggybombs, mostly bombs… But this is insane. I mean, I thought a bullet seed that had to be fired into someone's heart is insane, but this is insane insane."

"Shut up, Phosphora," she grumbled, staring into her tea cup.

The general could tell by the features on her commander's face that she was greatly concerned. "You should drink that before it gets cold," she urged her boss.

"It's already cold. I tried it a few seconds ago."

"Then let me heat it up for you."

"No, it's fine."

"..." Phosphora moved to the other side of the table, sitting across from Viridi and resting her chin in her hands. "What are you thinking, Viridi? I can see it in your eyes. Something is eating at you."

"This was my fault," she murmured.

"Your fault? How?"

"Where to begin? I'm the one who brought Pit there. I'm the one who was holding him when Pit cut off his arm. I'm the one who blackmailed him into joining us. I'm the one who gave him the Viridi Palm. If not for me, none of this would have happened."

"You said yourself, he is happy working for us."

The smaller goddess scoffed, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "If you honestly believed that, I have a bridge to sell you, too."

"I think he's happy."

"I think you want to think that so you can sleep with him more."

The lightning spirit frowned. "That's not fair."

"How is that not fair? Every chance you got you flung yourself at him, and I kept saying 'Phosphora, stop it. He's going to get mad and leave.' then you'd keep doing it anyway. I don't get it. You don't even care about him. If we found another guy who was just as cute, you'd be all over him, too. I'm the only one who really cares."

The lightning spirit's eyes flashed a dangerous blue. "How can you say that? You think you're the only one who gives a damn about him? I care too, Viridi!"

"Then act like it!" she snapped. "Stop treating him like a piece of meat and for once see him as a person!"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you! All humans are pests, right? The world would be better off without them."

"You're taking that out of context."

"What context?! You were using that to justify the extermination of an entire species! Suddenly, you meet a cute human and go all gaga over him. I dare you to look me in the eyes and say that you saw him as a person from the very beginning."

"You don't get to talk to me that way! I'm the goddess, you're the spirit! I _rule_ you, not the other way around!"

Phosphora gave a scoff of disbelief. "Fine," she said, throwing her hands up in surrender. "Mope. Whine and pout and throw a tantrum like a child. I'm done." She turned to leave, stopping in front of the tank where Adlar hovered motionless. Her hand gently pressed against the glass, and she could see her sad reflection there. "You know, I never thought I'd see the day where you started treating your friends the way Palutena treats her servants. Maybe all gods are the same."

With that, she vanished in a flash of lightning, going off to be alone. Viridi sank back into her chair, fighting back the tears that had formed in her eyes. What on earth could she possibly do?

* * *

"Lady Palutena…?"

The goddess of light ignored her angel, continuing her work with her own divine machinery.

"Lady Palu-"

"Shut up, Pit."

Silence settled over the two as her monitor displayed a strange readout of enochian symbols. While Pit was a little rusty on the old language, he understood enough of it to see she was reading up on the Viridi Palm. "Oh! You're finding out how to reverse the weapon's effects so you can use it against them! That's so smart, Lady Palutena."

Suddenly, her tall, lithe shadow fell over the angel, creating a foreboding presence. When he looked into her eyes, he saw nothing but fury and rage. "I told you to shut up, Pit," she stated firmly. "If you talk again, I swear, I will burn off your wings and send you on a very long fall to Earth. Do I make myself clear?"

The angel silently nodded his head. Satisfied, she returned to her experiments. Something Adlar had said bothered her. He'd said that his weapon was what caused her to feel this way. She'd never heard of such a thing before. Viridi was powerful, but not so much so that her weapons could affect a God so intensely.

Her body shuddered as a vision of the shirtless hunter entered her mind. Her cheeks blossomed into a rosy pink and she could feel herself becoming wet. She'd been so close to taking him as her own. Had he given her his divine seed, she wasn't sure what would have happened. The only time she'd heard of a God breeding with a mortal were stories from long ago. Ones that said that monsters were the result of such unions. That couldn't be true though, could it?

Her hand absently stroked her midriff. Would it be worth the risk? She shook the thought from her head. She needed to focus. If this weapon really was what was affecting her feelings, she needed to find out so she could steel herself.

"Lady Palutena?"

"Pit, so help me…"

She wheeled about to glare at him again, but he faced her bravely. "I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have attacked him. And...I know it's not really my business who it is you love or don't love. So I'm really sorry. You're my Goddess...my everything. I was just trying to protect you like I always do."

Like that, her anger faded almost instantly. Moving to her commander, she drew him into her arms, holding him tightly. "Oh, Pit. I should have known this would be hard for you. You always were the jealous sort."

"I can't help it, Lady Palutena. I'm in love with you."

Again, her cheeks burned red. "I know," she murmured. "I've always known. Because of that, I'd flirt and tease you, but maybe I pushed it too far. I'm sorry, Pit, but it will never happen between us."

"N-never?"

The goddess shook her head solemnly. "I'm sorry. And maybe, I'm asking too much of you, but please...stay with me. This has never happened to me before, and I'm scared. It would be so easy to just say that my feelings were caused by this weapon, but at the same time...how could something that I feel so strongly not be real. I've always followed my heart in the past, but what do I do if my heart is lying to me?"

"I think you should do whatever makes you happy, Lady Palutena. And as your loyalest servant, I'll do anything to help you be happy. At least now you won't have to worry about Adlar and I fighting anymore."

"Hmm? Why's that?"

He grinned at her. "I'd never fight an opponent who was...unarmed."

Palutena rolled her eyes and swatted his nose, but still, she couldn't help but smile. She'd peered in on Viridi's lab and found that Adlar was okay. That was enough for her for now. "Excuse me, Lady Palutena?" a feminine voice called. "You wanted to see me?"

The goddess quickly wheeled about, giving a bright smile to the buxom blonde woman. "Ah, Lady Aphrodite. How good it is to see you again! Actually, I had something I thought you may be able to help me with. You see I…" she paused for a moment, turning back to her angel. "Pit, would you…"

"Say no more," he interrupted, holding up his hand. "Come get me when you need me Lady Palutena. I'll be in my room."

"Okay, Palutena. Spill. What on Earth have you called me for? You're the last person I figured would need someone to fix her up."

"Oh! No, nothing like that. See...I may be having feelings for someone, and such feelings may be...artificial."

"Artificial? Artificial how?"

Palutena stepped aside and waved for her to look at the screen. "Viridi invented a weapon for her new paladin called the Viridi palm. I remember Pit using something like it before during the Hades incident, but this is something entirely different. It has a pheromone shot that's strong enough that it supposedly affects gods. He was fighting with Pit's double when he fired a fully charged shot, and I managed to get in the way of it."

"And now you've fallen hard for this paladin and you're not sure if it's you or the shot, hmm?" The goddess of light blushed profusely, averting her eyes. Aphrodite gently cradled her chin. "No need to be ashamed Palutena. Lust is a perfectly natural emotion. Still, I will help you."

"Thank you, Lady Aphrodite."

The woman's hand went from her chin to Palutena's shoulder. "Now, this involves a bit of touching. I trust that…"

"It's fine. Whatever it takes. I have to know."

"Very well."

Aphrodite's hand continued to lower, gently unbuttoning Palutena's top. The goddess of light shuddered, closing her eyes, but still remaining steadfast. She couldn't break now.

The beautiful blonde cupped her soft breast, gently running her thumb over her nipple. A sharp hiss escaped Palutena's teeth. They were so sensitive, and the goddess of beauty and love was very good at living up to her rumored touch of bliss.

"Hmm...your heart is racing, Palutena. You seem awfully excited by this." A smirk formed on her perfect pink lips as she pinched her nipple, giving it a gentle tug. With it, a moan erupted from Palutena's throat. "Heehee, so you are. Let's look a little deeper shall we?"

The blonde rushed forward, pressing her lips firmly against Palutena's. Her tongue found its way into her mouth, beckoning hers to come and play. When Palutena consented, Aphrodite sucked on her tongue, and let her other hand slip between the goddess of light's thighs.

Emotions began to pour forth into Aphrodite's mind as her fingers slid into Palutena's undergarments, probing and stroking her pussy lips. As her arousal dripped onto her well manicured nails, she slid her digits inside of her snatch. Running the sharp points of her fingernails against her inner walls, Palutena nearly collapsed from the sheer pleasure she felt, and it was then Aphrodite caught her in her arms, holding the weakened goddess upright.

"Just as I suspected," she giggled, slipping her fingers from her pussy. "Sorry Palutena, I fear you are indeed in love with him."

"I-I am?" she panted.

"Mmhm."

Palutena had to resist blushing even more as Aphrodite brought her soaked fingers to her lips and gently licked the fem cum from them. "Well...does he love me as well? I tried to take him as my consort but I…"

Aphrodite held up her free hand to stop her. "Sorry Palutena. I can't say a word of it from his end. It's against the rules, you see? Even if I were to checked his feelings, I couldn't tell you. Patient confidentiality and all that, you understand." She accented her words with a playful wink. "But, that doesn't mean I can't give you some advice. If you're want to make him love you, your best bet is sacrifice. People love it when others give up things for them. Any idea what he wants?"

"For me to resurrect Medusa," she grumbled. "But I couldn't possibly do that. Medusa is such a monster! She'd start a whole new war again. If I don't though, his old family will be stuck in limbo."

"Well, if you need someone to rule the underworld, perhaps it'd be best to find _another_ god to do so. After all, it doesn't have to be Medusa, does it? Any god would do."

Wheels began to turn in Palutena's head. That's right! Any god of the underworld would do, not just Medusa! Surely someone else could take charge. "Thank you Lady Aphrodite. You've been a major help. I'll give your advice some thought. Please, if you ever need anything from me, don't hesitate to ask."

"Very well. Good luck Lady Palutena. I hope love blesses you."

With that, the beautiful goddess left, leaving Palutena to her thoughts. As she exited her home, Aphrodite found herself amidst her husband Ares' troops.

"Stand down gentlemen. War has been averted this day. Retreat forces from Viridi's palace as well. Something tells me she won't be a problem any longer either. And has anyone seen Cupid? That cherubim is never around when I need him."

"Right here, Mistress," he informed her, flapping closer.

"Did you get what I requested?"

Reaching into his diaper, he pulled out a beautiful purple flower and offered it to her. "The Midsummer's Dream, Mistress, just as promised."

"Good," she grinned, patting his head. "You are to take that to Viridi and tell her it is a special medicine for her paladin, as an apology from Palutena and a gift from myself. Apply it to the mortal's eyes while he sleeps, and when he awakens, he'll fall madly in love with the first thing he sees. Make sure that the first thing he sees is Viridi, understand?"

"Yes, Mistress...but won't that just start the issue with Palutena and Viridi over again?"

"No, in fact, just the opposite. Palutena will be so eager to please him, she'll sacrifice her position in Skyworld to rule over Underworld herself. In doing so, I will take her place, and then we will spread love to every corner of the mortal world."

"You are truly cunning, Mistress," Cupid praised her.

She shooed him away, sending him on his task. With that, she swept past her armed entourage, heading home to her husband. Soon, she knew, she would be in charge. On that day, everyone would fall in love with her. Any wars fought would be done over her and her alone, and for her entertainment. She'd be all powerful, and with that, she'd get everything she ever wanted.

* * *

The next day…

* * *

Viridi sighed softly to herself as she stared at Adlar in a lull. Cradled between her fingers was the flower given to her by Cupid as a token of apology from both Aphrodite and Palutena. There were plenty of things suspicious about this.

Firstly, that Palutena would ever apologize for anything. Secondly, that Aphrodite would be involved at all. Had she sensed her growing feelings for the human? Viridi hoped not, more from concern of teasing than any embarrassment she had of the fact.

Even though Cupid hadn't told her the flower's effects, only that it would help Adlar, she knew well enough what it was. It was the Midsummer's Dream. Despite what Palutena and possibly even Aphrodite herself thought, Viridi had ensured to catalog for herself, every flora and fauna in existence, from the most common Bracken Fern to the near mythological Middlemist's Red, and everything in between. This may have been a magical plant, but she was well aware of its effects.

While the question of why the two goddesses would want her to use such a plant on her paladin loomed in her mind, more importantly was the decision to actually use it. Maybe Palutena saw how destructive her behavior had become and wanted to express her blessing? Somehow, Viridi doubted such.

A pit formed in her stomach as she dropped the blossom onto the table. It'd be one heck of a shortcut to make him love her, but on the other hand it felt...wrong. No, she decided, if she were going to make him fall in love with her, she'd do it herself. Not with some silly spell or plant.

Suddenly, Adlar began to squirm inside of the tank, his eyes snapping open and panic flooding his features. Viridi quickly moved to the tank and placed her hand on it. "Whoa, whoa. It's okay. Relax. You're just in a nutrient bath, okay? Here, I'll let you out." Pressing a few buttons on her Ipad-Divine, she frowned when nothing happened. "Sorry," she murmured shaking it. "I went with Apple because I figured it was more natural. Stupid me, right?" A few more frustrated presses later and the liquid began to drain from the chamber.

Once it was empty, the glass opened and Adlar fell forward. It took all of Viridi's physical strength to hold him upright. Carefully, she dragged him from the tank, while he worked to regain his balance. "Thanks, 'V'. What happened to me?"

"Long story short? An angel cut off your arm."

"I'll admit, that's a new one for me."

Viridi smiled. His sense of humor was still intact, thankfully. She was worried he'd have withdrawn from her after what happened. "Umm...I couldn't save your arm, so I used the seed's power and the nutrient bath to grow you a new one. How does it feel?"

Adlar examined the vine-like tendrils with curiosity. They were tightly raveled together, and when he flexed them, they moved just as naturally as his old arm did. Even his fingers felt as if they were the same as his previous ones, with one exception.

"You forgot the fingernails?" he asked in confusion.

The goddess of nature blinked for a moment before facepalming. "'Fingernails', he says. You grow a man a tree arm and he asks about fingernails."

He chuckled to himself, running his still human fingers over the surface of his new arm. To his surprise, he actually felt it. Even the outer parts of the vines felt like skin. "You really outdid yourself, 'V'. It feels like it was made for me." He added a playful wink to his sentence, causing her to blush.

"I'm glad you like it. You may want to take it easy for a few days. It's a lot stronger than you may realize. I don't want you going to shake someone's hand with it only to rip their arm from their socket."

The two shared a smile before he noticed the flower on the table. Picking it up, he examined it curiously, much to her panic. "What's this?" he asked. "From a secret admirer of yours?"

"N-no! Put it down! Don't touch that, it's dangerous."

"O-ho! So it is from a lover, hmm? I wonder who it is that wishes to steal my goddess' heart, hmm?" He continued to tease her, but Viridi continued to try to snatch it from him.

"It's not from a crush," she protested. "Give it back."

"Not until you tell me who gave it to you."

"Cupid gave it to me, now please give it back."

"Ha! Cupid has a crush on you? That seems mighty convenient for him, doesn't it? Couldn't he have just shot you with his arrow?"

With an annoyed huff, Viridi launched herself across the table, snatching it from his grip, but inadvertently toppling his chair over in the process, so the two were tangled on the floor. "It's not like that," she said. "The flower is magical. He gave it to me to use on you."

"Use on me?" he asked in confusion.

Viridi gently stroked the violet petals before setting it aside. "It's basically a love potion. You put some of its nectar in someone's eyes and they fall in love with the first person they see."

The hunter became silent. He moved Viridi off of him, a little less than gently, and got to his feet. "I can't believe you," he growled. "I'd trusted you, 'V', and you were going to do this?"

"N-no! I wasn't, I swear! I didn't want to…"

"Save it," he interrupted. "Just send me home so I can rest now."

"Oh, but...you don't have to go home and rest. I have a spare bedroom for you here."

"And let you drug me in my sleep? Yeah, right. Don't think I forgot what happened last time on that mountain. Ms. 'Men-can't-be-raped'.

Viridi sank. "I said I was sorry about that."

"Sorry isn't good enough."

Without a thought, she threw her arms around him and held him tightly. "Please, don't leave. I'm doing everything in my power not to lose you. But even I wouldn't use that flower on you. Please, you have to believe me."

The paladin gazed down at his goddess. Her desperation was evident from the way her disheveled platinum blonde hair dangled in front of her face. Without a word, he reached up and brushed her bangs away. "You don't have to use a flower or spell on me, 'V'. I already care deeply for you. Nothing in this world would make me stop being your friend, understand?"

"I know, but…"

"Destroy that flower. Swear to me you'll never do something like this again, and I'll forgive you."

"Fine, I will. But...please, you have to believe me. I didn't plan on using it."

"Whatever you say, 'V'. Point me towards my quarters if you would. I know I've been in that tank, but I feel pretty sleepy."

With a sigh, she released him before pointing across the hall. "Second door on your left," she murmured. "I put a lock on it, in case you don't want to be disturbed."

As he left, Viridi carefully lifted the flower from the ground. How could she possibly destroy it? This flower was too rare and too valuable to just let die. When she'd heard him close the door, she moved to her collection. Finding a spot, she carefully placed it in a vase, just so its stem could develop roots. She'd revive it in time, but for now, she had to keep it hidden from Adlar.

To Be Continued...


End file.
